Language family of the Afro-Asiatic group in North Africa containing numerous languages and dialects (e.g. Tamashek (Tuareg), Shlih, Zenaga). Approx. 10 million speakers, primarily in isolated areas. Strong influence from Arabic. Tamashek has its own...

BERBER RELIGION. It is difficult to refer with any sort of precision to "Berber religion" per se, even as it is difficult to speak about a "Berber people." The term berber—originally a derogatory name (cf. Gr....

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. They speak various Berber languages, which...

Nowadays, there can't be many Berbers (or Amazigh as they prefer to call themselves) left. Since before recorded time, the Amazigh have lived in North Africa. They are non-Arab people in a predominantly Arab region. They have mingled so much with the other...

The Algerian government faces two possible hostile threats, the Berbers and Islamic fundamentalists. Ironically, it was the Algerian government of the 1960s under Houari Boumedienne which encouraged the rise of Islamic fundamentalism as a counterweight to the pressures of the Berbers. Although many political...