Berbers or Imazighen (singular Amazigh, plural Imazighen) are an ethnic group. They were the first people to live in the countries of Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia in North Africa. There are more than 100 different tribes/groups of the Amazigh people that live in different parts of North Africa. Imazighen live in two different ways. They always move around to live in different places or they have land and stay in one place. The way they live is different in different parts of North Africa. The Amazigh people speak Tamazight and this language has many different dialects. The dialects use the Tifinagh script.
The Amazigh people have a different culture from the Arab Moroccans. The art Imazighen create is unique to them. This can be pottery, carpet making, blanket making or tattooing. The colours and designs they use are different in each group. Groups are known by these colours and designs. This is how groups show their differences.
The Terms "Berber" and "Amazigh" After the start of the Arab conquest, the native people started being called Berbers. The term Berbers means barbarians. Barbarians are people who live and behave like animals. This term is not used by the Amazigh people. This is because the term reminds them of when France was in control of Morocco. During this time, Berbers were not treated well.
The term "Amazigh" is what Imazighen liked to be called instead. Amazigh is the singular, Tamazight is the word for females and Imazighen is the plural. The translation of the word means "free people."
History
Origin
Amazigh people were the first people to live in the Maghrebi region. There were a lot of different tribes that lived in different regions. They lived next to Roman provinces.
Middle Ages
The Arab conquests which started in the 7th century, brought the Umayyads to the region. They took some of the land and made people become Muslim. The people in control were from the Abbasid dynasty. In 711, Imazighen took part in taking over al-Andalus. This was part of Spain During the time between 1040-1147, the Almoravid dynasty created an important empire. People were selling their things to other continents. Amazigh kingdoms were replaced with Arab ones and Arabic was spoken in lots of places.
Colonial times
In the 19th and 20th century, the French took control of Algeria and Morocco and made a difference between Arabs and Amazigh people. They continued to call Amazigh people Berbers. The French thought that Amazigh people's way of life was not modern. Berbers moved areas outisde cities and close to the Atlas mountains. People were farming, working with leather, making pottery and selling things. Some Amazigh people had houses, while others were nomads and moved or lived in caves. Most of the time, Amazigh groups had their own rules and rituals. Many Berbers moved to bigger cities or Europe to look for better jobs. After Morocco and Algeria became free countries, Tamazight languages were not studied at schools and people were not treated in a good way.
Current times
Amazigh people still live in North African countries and they are a big part of the population in countries like Morocco and Algeria. In 2005, the PDAM (Democratic Amazigh Moroccan Party) was created. It wanted to show the Moroccan state that the regions where Amazigh people lived were different. IRCAM (Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture) was another project which helped with teaching the Tamazight language and keeping the Amazigh identity. In 2011, Tamazight got the status of a national language in Morocco. An Amazigh festival has been created and it happens every year.
Groups and Languages
Tamazight is the general term for the different Berber dialects. People in North Africa speak Tamazight in different ways in each country and region. Amazigh languages are part of the Afro-Asiatic family and they use the Tifinagh script. When the Arabs arrived to North Africa, Arabic was introduced and Amazigh languages were not written anymore. Because of this, less Amazigh people spoke Amazigh dialects and switched to speaking Arabic. At the end of the 19th century, Tamazight languages started to be used again. They use the Latin and Tifinagh scripts. Today, Tamazight is taught in schools in Morocco and Algeria and the language has become an official language in Morocco.