Berbers
The Berber (also called Amazigh, "free men", pl. Imazighen) are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group living in northern Africa, speaking an Afroasiatic language called Berber or Tamazight. They most probably descend from the Capsian culture, which entered North Africa, probably from the African coast of the Red Sea (according to the historian Christopher Ehret) about 8000 BC.
The Berber is a horse breed bred by the Berber people.
Famous Berbers
- Masinissa, King of Numidia, North Africa, present day Algeria and Tunisia.
- Jugurtha, King of Numidia
- Juba II, King of Numidia
- Ibn Battuta (1304 - 1377), Moroccan traveller and explorer
- Tariq ibn Ziyad, one of the leaders of the Moorish invasion of Spain in 711.
- Abd el-Krim, leader of the Rif guerrillas against the Spanish and French colonizers.
- Lalla Fatma n Soumer, woman who led western Kabylie in battle against French colonizers
- Ibn Tumart, founder of the Almohad dynasty
- Yusuf ibn Tashfin, founder of the Almoravid dynasty
- Si Mohand, Kabyle folk poet
- Lounes Matoub, Algerian singer.
- Ali Lmrabet, Moroccan journalist.
- Zinedine Zidane (1972 - ), French football superstar.
- Saint Augustine (from Thagaste; his mother's name, Monica, was Berber, although he grew up speaking Punic)
- Arius (who proposed the Arian doctrine)
- Donatus (leader of the Donatist schism)
- Dihya or al-Kahina
- Aksil or Kusayla
- Sheshonq I (Egyptian Pharaoh of Libyan origin)
- Mohamed Choukri (famous writer)
- al-Ajurrumi (famous grammarian of Arabic)
- Apuleius, Roman writer ("half-Numidian, half-Gaetulian")
- Hocine Ait Ahmed, Algerian revolutionary fighter and politican
- Liamine Zeroual
- Fodhil al-Warthilani, traveler and religious scholar of the 1700's
- Mouloud Feraoun, Algerian writer
- Tacfarinas, who fought the Romans in the Aures Mountains
- Abane Ramdane, Algerian revolutionary fighter
Famous People who were either Berber or Punic
- Septimus Severus (Roman emperor from the mainly Punic Libyan city of Lepcis Magna, founded by Phoenicians)
- Caracalla, his son
- Tertullian, an early Christian theologian (born in the highly multiethnic, Phoenician-founded city of Carthage)
- Vibia Perpetua (early Christian martyr, also born in Carthage)
Famous People who may have had some Berber ancestors
- Ibn Khaldun, whose parents were both from Seville and who spoke Arabic natively
See also
- Kabyle
- Zenata
- Senhaja
- Tuareg, a Saharan Berber group
- Berber languages
- Barbary Coast
- Tamazgha, Berber name for North Africa.
- Berber Jews
External links
- Berber History
- North African Kingdom of Numidia (Warning: Popup trap, tries to install spyware)