Editing Berbers (section)

== Contemporary demographics ==
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Dansgroep uit de westelijke Sahara tijdens het Nationaal Folkore Festival te Marrakech TMnr 20017655.jpg|thumb|[[Sanhaja]] Berber women in the 1970s]]

=== Ethnic groups ===
{{Main|Maghreb#Ethnic groups}}
Ethnically, Berbers comprise a minority population in the [[Maghreb]]. Berbers comprise 15%<ref>{{Citation |title=Algeria |date=14 June 2023 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/algeria/ |work=The World Factbook |access-date=19 June 2023 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref> to 25%<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 February 2016 |title=Algeria reinstates term limit and recognises Berber language |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35515769 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> the population of Algeria, 10%<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zurutuza |first=Karlos |title=Berbers fear ethnic conflict |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/1/6/libyas-berbers-fear-ethnic-conflict |access-date=12 December 2022 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref> of Libya, 31%<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fs0Fog7XneUC&pg=PA11 |title=The Report: Morocco 2012 |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford Business Group |isbn=978-1-907065-54-5 |language=en}}</ref> to 35%<ref>{{Cite book |last=Danver |first=Steven L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |title=Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues |date=10 March 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-46400-6 |language=en}}</ref> of Morocco, and 1%<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 March 2004 |title=Q&A: The Berbers |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3509799.stm |access-date=12 December 2022}}</ref> of Tunisia. Berber language speakers in the Maghreb comprise 30%<ref name="Berber speakers" /> to 40%<ref name="minorityrights.org">{{cite journal|url=http://minorityrights.org/minorities/berber/|title=Morocco – Berber|journal=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples|date=19 June 2015 }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=June 2023}}<ref name="axl.cefan.ulaval.ca">{{cite web|url=http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/berberes_Afrique.htm|title=Les Berbères en Afrique du Nord|publisher=Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d'expression française en Amérique du Nord}}, Université Laval
Québec, 2016.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=June 2023}} of the Moroccan population, and 15%<ref name="The World Factbook">{{cite web |title=Ethnic groups |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2075.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106010801/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2075.html |archive-date=6 January 2019 |access-date=24 January 2016 |publisher=The World Factbook}}</ref> to 35%<ref name="axl.cefan.ulaval.ca" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=June 2023}} of the Algerian population, with smaller communities in Libya and very small groups in Tunisia, Egypt and Mauritania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histdic/wh/hdnafrica.html|title=Historical Dictionaries: North Africa|access-date=2 May 2015}}</ref> Berber languages in total are spoken by around 14 million<ref name="Berber Languages" /> to 16 million<ref name="Stolz-2015" /> people in Africa.

[[File:Berber village Atlas.jpg|thumb|Berber village in the Atlas mountains]]

Prominent Berber ethnic groups include the [[Kabyle people|Kabyles]]—from [[Kabylia]], a historical autonomous region of northern Algeria—who number about six million and have kept, to a large degree, their original language and society; and the [[Shilha people|Shilha]] or Chleuh—in High and [[Anti-Atlas]] and [[Sous]] Valley of Morocco—who number about eight million.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Other groups include the [[Rifians|Riffians]] of northern Morocco, the [[Chaoui people|Chaoui]] people of eastern Algeria, the [[Chenouas]] in western Algeria and the [[Nafusi language|Nafusis]] of the [[Nafusa Mountains]].

Outside the Maghreb, the [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] in Mali (early settlement near the old imperial capital of [[Timbuktu]]),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLhuMhMtE5gC&q=Berbers,+Timbuktu|title=Berbers and Blacks: Impressions of Morocco, Timbuktu and Western Sudan|author=David Prescott Barrows|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger |isbn=9781417917426}}</ref> Niger, and Burkina Faso number some 850,000,<ref name=WorldFactbookMali/> 1,620,000,<ref name=WorldFactbookNiger>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/niger/|title=Niger|date=3 March 2022|publisher=The World Factbook}}</ref> and 50,000, respectively. Tuaregs are a Berber ethnic group with a traditionally [[nomad]]ic pastoralist lifestyle and are the principal inhabitants of the vast Sahara Desert.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6982266.stm|title=Q&A: Tuareg unrest|date=7 September 2007|newspaper=BBC|access-date=22 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/tuareg/who.html|title=Who are the Tuareg? {{!}} Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World|website=africa.si.edu|access-date=22 May 2016|archive-date=27 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927231426/http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/tuareg/who.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of Berber ethnic groups
! Ethnic group
! Country
! Regions
! Ethnic population
! Linguistic population
|-
| [[Chaoui people|Chaouis]] || {{flag|ALG}} || [[Aurès Mountains]], eastern Algeria
|2,870,000<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=Centre de Recherche Berbère |title=Chaouia |url=http://www.centrederechercheberbere.fr/chaouia.html |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=www.centrederechercheberbere.fr}}</ref>
|Including 2,130,000 speakers of [[Shawiya language]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tachawit |website=Ethnologue Free |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/shy/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| [[Chenouas]] || {{flag|ALG}}  || [[Mount Chenoua]], western Algeria
|106,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chenoua in Algeria |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/11321/AG |access-date=29 May 2023 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
|Including 76,000 speakers of [[Shenwa language]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=Shenwa |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/cnu/ |website=Ethnologue}}</ref>
|-
| [[Shilha people|Chleuhs]] || {{flag|MAR}}  || [[High Atlas]], [[Anti-Atlas]] and the [[Sous]] valley, southern Morocco
|3,500,000<ref>{{Cite web |last=Project |first=Joshua |title=Berber, Southern Shilha in Morocco |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14911/MO |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
|
|-
| [[Jerba Berber|Djerbas]] || {{flag|TUN}}  || [[Djerba]], southern Tunisia
|11,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazigh, Djerba in Tunisia |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/12344/TS |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
|
|-
| [[Ghomaras]] || {{flag|MAR}}  || Western [[Rif]], northern Morocco 
|12,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Berber, Ghomara in Morocco |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/11882/MO |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
|Including 10,000 speakers of [[Ghomara language]]{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}<!--Scribd is a document hosting service, not a source, and often violates copyright: see [[WP:RS/P%]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arabic Influence in Ghomara Berber by J El Hannouche {{!}} PDF {{!}} Grammatical Gender {{!}} Grammatical Tense |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/46039741/Arabic-Influence-in-Ghomara-Berber-by-J-El-Hannouche |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>-->
|-
| [[Godala|Guezula]] || {{flag|MRT}}  ||Southern Mauritania
|Unknown
|
|-
| [[Kabyle people|Kabyles]] || {{flag|ALG}}  || [[Kabylia]], northern Algeria
|6,000,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pereltsvaig |first=Asya |title=Languages of the World: An Introduction |url=https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/languages-of-the-world/8CC640455E0B8E6271A7145419DA2863 |date=3 September 2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108783071 |isbn=9781108783071 |language=en |access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref>
|Including 3,000,000 speakers of [[Kabyle language]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Algérie: situation géographique et démolinguistique |url=https://axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/algerie-1demo.htm |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde |language=fr}}</ref>
|-
| [[Matmata Berber|Matmata]]s || {{flag|TUN}}  || [[Matmata, Tunisia|Matmata]], southern Tunisia
|3,700
|
|-
| [[Mozabite people|Mozabites]] || {{flag|ALG}}  || [[M'zab]] Valley, central Algeria
|200,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Berber, Mozabite in Algeria |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/13842/AG |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
|Including 150,000 speakers of [[Mozabite language]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tumzabt |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mzb/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| [[Nafusi language|Nafusis]] || {{flag|LBY}}  || [[Nafusa Mountains|Jabal Nafusa]], western Libya
|186,000<ref>{{Cite web |last=PeopleGroups.org |title=Nefusa Berbers of Libya |url=https://peoplegroups.org/explore/PeopleGroupDetails.aspx?peid=11844#topmenu |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=peoplegroups.org }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|Including 140,000 speakers of [[Nafusi language]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=E. K. |title=Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics |publisher=Elsevier |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-08-044299-0 |edition= |location=Amsterdam; Heidelberg |pages=155}}</ref>
|-
| [[Riffians]] || {{flag|MAR}}  || [[Rif]], northern Morocco
|1,500,000
|Including 1,271,000 speakers of [[Tarifit|Tarifit language]]<ref name="Maaroufi">{{Cite web |last=Maaroufi |first=Youssef |title=Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat 2004 |url=https://www.hcp.ma/Recensement-general-de-la-population-et-de-l-habitat-2004_a633.html |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=Site institutionnel du Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc |language=fr |archive-date=5 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705120730/http://www.hcp.ma/Recensement-general-de-la-population-et-de-l-habitat-2004_a633.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| [[Siwi people|Siwi]] || {{flag|EGY}}  || [[Siwa Oasis]], western Egypt
|24,000<ref name="Project"/>
|Including 20,000 speakers of [[Siwi language]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Siwi |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/siz/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] || {{flag|ALG}}<br />{{flag|MLI}}<br />{{flag|NIG}}   || [[Sahara]], northern Mali and Niger, and southern Algeria
|4,000,000
|
|-
| Central Atlas Amazigh || {{flag|MAR}}  || [[Middle Atlas]], Morocco
|2,867,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Berber, Imazighen in Morocco |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/12217/MO |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
|Including 2,300,000 speakers of [[Central Atlas Tamazight]]<ref name="Maaroufi" />
|-
| [[Zuwara Berber|Zuwaras]] || {{flag|LBY}}  || [[Zuwarah]], northwestern Libya
|280,000
|247,000 speakers of [[Zuwara Berber|Zuwara language]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nafusi |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/jbn |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>
|}

=== Genetics ===
{{Main|Maghreb#Genetics}}
Genetically, the Berbers form the principal indigenous ancestry in the region.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=Jamie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: L to Z |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781438126760 |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSGzIPz8cYIC |title=The Report: Algeria 2011 |publisher=Oxford Business Group |year=2011 |isbn=9781907065378 |page=9}}</ref> [[Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA)|Haplogroup E1b1b]] is the most frequent among Maghrebi groups, especially the downstream lineage of [[E-M81|E1b1b1b1a]], which is typical of the indigenous Berbers of North-West Africa. On the other hand, [[Haplogroup J-M267|Haplogroup J1]] is the second most frequent among Maghrebi groups and is more indicative of [[Middle East]] origins, and has its highest distribution among populations in the southern [[Arabian Peninsula]]. E1b1b1b accounts for 45% of North Africans, while Haplogroup J1-M267 accounts for 30% of North Africans, and has spread from Arabia.<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Sarra |last1=Elkamel |first2=Sofia L. |last2=Marques |first3=Luis |last3=Alvarez |first4=Veronica |last4=Gomes |first5=Sami |last5=Boussetta |first6=Soufia |last6=Mourali-Chebil |first7=Houssein |last7=Khodjet-El-Khil |first8=Lotfi |last8=Cherni |first9=Amel |last9=Benammar-Elgaaied |first10=Maria J. |last10=Prata |display-authors=6 |date=August 2021 |title=Insights into the Middle Eastern paternal genetic pool in Tunisia: high prevalence of T-M70 haplogroup in an Arab population |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=15728 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-95144-x |pmid=34344940 |pmc=8333252 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1115728E }}</ref>

The Semitic-speaking presence in the Maghreb is mainly due to the migratory movements of [[Phoenicia]]ns in the 3rd century BC and large scale migrations of Arab [[Bedouin]] tribes in the 11th century AD such as [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]], as well as other waves that occurred during the [[Arab migrations to the Maghreb]] ({{circa|7th century}} – 17th century). The results of a study from 2017 suggest that these Arab migrations to the Maghreb were mainly a demographic process that heavily implied gene flow and remodeled the genetic structure of the Maghreb.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 2017 |first1=Lara R. |last1=Arauna |first2=Javier |last2=Mendoza-Revilla |first3=Alex |last3=Mas-Sandoval |first4=Hassan |last4=Izaabel |first5=Asmahan |last5=Bekada |first6=Soraya |last6=Benhamamouch |first7=Karima |last7=Fadhlaoui-Zid |first8=Pierre |last8=Zalloua |first9=Garrett |last9=Hellenthal |first10=David |last10=Comas |display-authors=6 |title=Recent Historical Migrations Have Shaped the Gene Pool of Arabs and Berbers in North Africa |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=318–329 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msw218 |pmid=27744413 |pmc=5644363 }}</ref>

DNA studies of [[Iberomaurusian]] peoples at [[Taforalt]], Morocco dating to around 15,000 years ago have found them to have a distinctive Maghrebi ancestry formed from a mixture of [[Near East]]ern and African ancestry, which is still found as a part of the genome of modern Northwest Africans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van de Loosdrecht |first1=Marieke |last2=Bouzouggar |first2=Abdeljalil |last3=Humphrey |first3=Louise |last4=Posth |first4=Cosimo |last5=Barton |first5=Nick |last6=Aximu-Petri |first6=Ayinuer |last7=Nickel |first7=Birgit |last8=Nagel |first8=Sarah |last9=Talbi |first9=El Hassan |last10=El Hajraoui |first10=Mohammed Abdeljalil |last11=Amzazi |first11=Saaïd |last12=Hublin |first12=Jean-Jacques |last13=Pääbo |first13=Svante |last14=Schiffels |first14=Stephan |last15=Meyer |first15=Matthias |date=4 May 2018 |title=Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aar8380 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=360 |issue=6388 |pages=548–552 |doi=10.1126/science.aar8380 |pmid=29545507 |bibcode=2018Sci...360..548V |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> A 2025 study sequenced individuals from [[Takarkori]] (7,000 YBP) and discovered that most of their ancestry was from an unknown [[Ancestral North African]] lineage, related to the African admixture component found in Iberomaurusians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salem |first=Nada |last2=van de Loosdrecht |first2=Marieke S. |last3=Sümer |first3=Arev Pelin |last4=Vai |first4=Stefania |last5=Hübner |first5=Alexander |last6=Peter |first6=Benjamin |last7=Bianco |first7=Raffaela A. |last8=Lari |first8=Martina |last9=Modi |first9=Alessandra |last10=Al-Faloos |first10=Mohamed Faraj Mohamed |last11=Turjman |first11=Mustafa |last12=Bouzouggar |first12=Abdeljalil |last13=Tafuri |first13=Mary Anne |last14=Manzi |first14=Giorgio |last15=Rotunno |first15=Rocco |date=2 April 2025 |title=Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08793-7 |journal=Nature |language=en |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |pmc=12043513 }}</ref> According to the study, the Takarkori people were distinct from both contemporary sub-Saharan Africans and non-Africans/Eurasians. They had "only a minor component of non-African ancestry" but did "not carry sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that, contrary to previous interpretations, the [[Green Sahara]] was not a corridor connecting Northern and sub-Saharan Africa."<ref>{{cite news |title=Sahara desert, once lush and green, was home to mysterious human lineage |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/sahara-desert-once-lush-green-was-home-mysterious-human-lineage-2025-04-04/ |work=Reuters |date=4 April 2025}}</ref>

Later during the [[Neolithic]], from around 7,500 years ago onwards, there was a migration into Northwest Africa of [[Early European Farmers|European Neolithic Farmers]] from the Iberian Peninsula (who had originated in [[Anatolia]] several thousand years prior), as well as pastoralists from the [[Levant]], both of whom also significantly contributed to the ancestry of modern Northwest Africans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Simões |first1=Luciana G. |last2=Günther |first2=Torsten |last3=Martínez-Sánchez |first3=Rafael M. |last4=Vera-Rodríguez |first4=Juan Carlos |last5=Iriarte |first5=Eneko |last6=Rodríguez-Varela |first6=Ricardo |last7=Bokbot |first7=Youssef |last8=Valdiosera |first8=Cristina |last9=Jakobsson |first9=Mattias |date=15 June 2023 |title=Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=618 |issue=7965 |pages=550–556 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=10266975 |pmid=37286608|bibcode=2023Natur.618..550S }}</ref> The [[Proto-Berber language|proto-Berber]] tribes evolved from these prehistoric communities during the late [[Bronze Age|Bronze]]- and early [[Iron Age|Iron]] ages.<ref>Mário Curtis Giordani, ''História da África. Anterior aos descobrimentos.'' Editora Vozes, Petrópolis (Brasil) 1985, pp. 42f., 77f. Giordani references Bousquet, ''Les Berbères'' (Paris 1961).</ref>