A short history of the Amazighs

At the outset, It is evident that we do not consider Morocco to be an Arab country from an oriental perspective. The issue is clear, Morocco or "Marrakesh" - as it is known in the past - is an Amazigh country of origin.

However, it witnessed the influx of many human elements of different races and civilisations. That was the case for the Arab element that migrated to the Maghreb and carried out what was historically called the "Islamic conquests" during the Umayyad era. This presence had strengthened with the emergence of migrations by a group of tribes such as the Banu Hilal, Banu Maqal, Banu Salim, and others.

Although North Africa was a foothold for many different peoples and civilisations, except the Arabs, none of them significantly affected the Berber community structure; using Islam, they employed the Berbers to invade the Iberian Peninsula.

Besides, history has witnessed the emergence of states ruled by Arabs of lineage ending with the Prophet Muhammed, with the support of Berber tribes, as is the case with the Idrisids, for example. However, the most controversial point is that some states established by Berber tribes like the Almoravids and the Almohads; however, they did not push towards official dependence on the state's Amazigh relied heavily on the Arabic language.

Furthermore, this may be due to their reliance on religious legitimacy and their propagation of the Maliki school of thought in the region, adopting the sectarian unification movement in the Maghreb countries, which witnessed a sectarian division meantime.

It is worth it to be said that the Amazighs are distinguished from other peoples by a set of ethnographic and cultural details; in addition to their famous rich heritage, they lack scientific writing, notation, and knowledge production as the Arabs and Europeans used to do.

 The various researchers overlook this particular point representing the weakness In the Amazigh civilisation and one of the motives for the bullying of foreign civilisations that invaded their country and settled their strongholds.

Most of the writings that talked about the Berbers - if we did not say most of them - especially the old ones-are foreign writings in Latin and Arabic. Perhaps the Amazighs did not realise this point until the last century when historians and researchers emerged trying to write about the Amazighs but relying mainly on foreign writings.

Dear History Corner readers, I'm glad to share my first article on the website, presenting the Amazighs or the Moors' History. I'm genuinely keen on historical topics as the Middle East and North Africa's political and cultural history.
I studied BA in History studies at the university, currently studying MA in Diplomacy and international relations.
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