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The Kabyle people (in Kabyle: Iqvayliyen) are the largest homogeneous Algerian ethno-cultural and linguistical community and the largest nation in North Africa to be considered exclusively Berber. Their traditional homeland is Kabylie (or Kabylia) in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers. Since the beginning of the 20th century, they have also had a strong presence in the Algérois (Algiers region). Around 40% of Algiers's population is Kabyle.
There are also, due to emigration during the 19th and 20th centuries, large Kabyle (or Kabyle descent) communities in France and to a lesser extent in the Americas such as in the United States and Canada.
Kabyles speak the Kabyle language. Since the Berber Spring in 1980, they have been at the forefront of the fight for the official recognition of the Berber languages and secularism ("laïcité") in Algeria (see Languages of Algeria).
The Kabyle region is referred to as Al Qabayel ("tribes") by the Arabic-speaking population and as Kabylie in French, but its inhabitants call it Tamurt Idurar ("Land of Mountains") or Tamurt n Iqvayliyen/Tamurt n Iqbayliyen ("Land of the Kabyles"). It is part of the Atlas Mountains and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean.
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Kabylia is a series of villages on the peaks [altitude 6000–9000 ft.] of the eastern part of the Atlas (100 km east of Algiers) In ancient times, Kabylia was an empty, rocky and wild area, inhabited by various animals including bears, wild boar, wolves, monkeys, eagles, and even hyenas. No human settlement is mentioned in any historical books documenting the peaceful period between Numidians (east northern Africa approx. modern Algeria + Tunisia) with Rome through the alliance and dating back to 500 BC, against the Phoenicians.
It is not until the death of King Massinissa when his protegé nephew and General of Numidian Armies Jugurtha rebelled against Rome, from which he wanted separation, that the inaccessible highlands became inhabited. They are known as Jugurtha and followers' hiding, training and camping grounds.
These once forts of Jugurtha's warriors slowly became small villages with traditions of self-sustainability as hunters and farmers after the capture of Jugurtha.(Sallust, Jugurthine Wars)] It is also where rebellion against Rome's attempt to administer Christianity was instigated, leading to the birth of the Protestant church under various denominations, amongst which Baptists, Donatists, Presbytarians, all of whom opposed Catholicism. For no less than three centuries, the relation between Roman Administration and the highlanders is one which can be characterized as a conflict of low intensity, through physical separation - the former controlled the coastal areas and the valleys and the latter the highlands.
In the late third century, the Gaiserics, also known as the Vandals, a Germanic people and enemy of Rome, cornered in the Iberian(Spain) peninsula, invaded North Africa and formed in Carthage a new kingdom and placed Arianism as royal lithurgy. At that time , the large core of the Berber population followed the Catholic Christian church of Africa allied to Rome. Just days away by horse from Carthage, the Vandal-Numidian coalition successfully evicted Rome from North Africa. While this alliance earned the Numidians the Barbarians (Berberes fr.), by extension from their new allies, it also created the largest clan in the region.
Numerous with their warrior-like, Kabyle are among the fierce activists in the Berber identity cause . The nominal Muslim attribute assigned to them in modern times is the result of colonial French ignorance and random classification, as well as the creation of the territory called Algeria by decree of General Sneider, French Minister of war, in 1871. This assignment as well as the term Arabs to Numidians and north Africans in general is a colonial construction followed by its maintenance by the alliance of the regime to the Ba'ath ideology, along with membership of the Arab League - source of all Algerian post-colonial ills, including continual rebellion by the Kabyles, till today.
The principal language used by the Kabyles is Kabyle, which is spoken both at home and professionally. Many Kabyles speak a second or third language: French, Arabic and to a lesser degree English.
The Kabyle people are mainly Muslim with some Christians.[1]
Recently, there has been a growing Protestant (chiefly evangelical) community.[2] Since the 19th century, there has been a large nominal Sunni Muslim community.[3]
Among Kabyle Muslims, the main tradition is maraboutism,[4] a version of heterogeneous Islam mixing Sunni tradition and many Kabyle cultural elements.
However, Kabyle society is known for its strong secular tradition. Religious differences play minor roles in political and social life.
The traditional economy of the area is based on arboriculture (orchards, olive trees) and on the craft industry (tapestry or pottery). Mountain and hill farming is gradually giving way to local industry (textile and agro-alimentary).
The Industrial Revolution began early in Kabylie: in 1871, there were already some factories. But it was in the middle of the 20th century, with the influence and help of the Kabyle diaspora, that industrialisation started to change the economic face of the region, which is today the second most important in the country after Algiers.
The Kabyles were relatively independent of outside control until the area was gradually taken over by the French beginning in 1857, despite vigorous resistance by the population led by leaders such as Lalla Fatma n Soumer, continuing as late as Mokrani's rebellion in 1871. Much land was confiscated in this period from the more recalcitrant tribes and given to French pieds-noirs. Many arrests and deportations were carried out by the French, mainly to New Caledonia (see : "Algerians of the Pacific"). Colonization also resulted in an acceleration of the emigration into other areas inside and outside Algeria.
Algerian immigrant workers in France organized the first party promoting independence in 1920s. Messali Hadj, Imache Amar, Si Djilani, and Belkacem Radjef rapidly built a strong following throughout France and Algeria in 1930s and actively developed militants that became vital to the future of both a fighting and an independent Algeria. During the war of independence (1954–1962), Kabylia was one of the areas that was most affected, because of the importance of the maquis, aided by the mountainous terrain, and French oppression. The armed Algerian revolutionary resistance to French colonialism, the National Liberation Front (FLN) recruited several of its historical leaders there, including Hocine Aït Ahmed, Abane Ramdane, and Krim Belkacem.
Tensions have arisen between Kabylia and the central government on several occasions, initially in 1963, when the FFS party of Hocine Aït Ahmed contested the authority of the single party (FLN). In 1980, several months of demonstrations demanding the officialization of the Berber language took place in Kabylie, called the Berber Spring. The politics of identity intensified as the regime's policy of Arabization was implemented to appease Islamists in the 1990s. In 1994–1995, a school boycott occurred, termed the "strike of the school bag". In June and July 1998, the area blazed up again after the assassination of singer Matoub Lounes and at the time that a law generalizing the use of the Arabic language in all fields went into effect. In the months following April, 2001 (called the Black Spring), major riots — together with the emergence of the Arouch, neo-traditional local councils — followed the killing of a young Kabyle Masinissa Guermah by gendarmes, and gradually died down only after forcing some concessions from the President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
For historical reasons, many Kabyles have emigrated to France, where they number about 1.5 million.[6][7] Many famous French people such as Zinedine Zidane, Isabelle Adjani, Kenza Farah, Dany Boon, and Edith Piaf[8] are of full or partial Kabyle descent.