Rifian people
The Rifians are a Berber people who inhabit the Rif in northern Morocco. The mother tongue of the Rifians is called Rifian, though many speak Moroccan Arabic, Spanish or French as second or third languages.
Physical anthropology
Rifi Berbers are defined as Mediterranean.[1][2] While only a few tribes have moderate Alpinid and Nordic admixture, these tribes are even closer to Europeans than to Africans. This is supported by a scientific study done on them in the Rif showing that some of the Rifian Berbers have blond hair and blue or green eyes, a percentage higher than that found in Italians, Spaniards, or Portuguese.[3][4]
Rifian languages
Rifian is a Northern Berber language of the Zenati subgroup, spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif and in other cities by about 4 million people. There are about 2 million Rifian-speaking immigrants in Europe. Rifian is still spoken in Beni Snouss (Tlemcen) and used to be spoken in some other areas (Bethioua, Arzew) in Algeria.
Regional distribution
Rifian is spoken mainly in the Moroccan Rif by about 4 million people, with a few speakers across the border in Algeria and a large minority in the Spanish Autonomous city of Melilla. There are also speakers of Rifian in Morocco outside the Rif, among significant communities in Oujda, Tangiers, Tetouan, Larache, Fes, and Casablanca. A substantial Rifian-speaking community exists in the Netherlands as well as in other European countries including Belgium, Germany, France, and mainland Spain. Its own speakers simply call it Thamazight, or Tamazight, a term also often applied in a broader sense to Berber languages in general.
Tribes
Traditionally, the principal Rifian tribes of the region are:
- Aith Ouriaghel near Ajdir, around Oued Ghis (Abd el-Krim's tribe)
- Gzennaya, around Aknoul, west of the Metalsa
- Iqeriyen, in the region of Nador and Melilla
- Mazuza
- Aith Shisher / Ait Shiker
- Aith Sidal
- Aith Bu Ifrur
- Aith Buyafar
- Kebdana, along the coast next to Oued Moulouya near the Algerian border
- Aith Said, west of Oued Kert
- Oulad Stut,south of the Kebdana
- Aith Bu Yahi, along Oued Moulouya south of the Oulad Stut
- Metalsa, east of the Aith Bu Yahi
- Aith Ulishk, southwest of Temsaman
- Tafersit, southeast of Temsaman
- Aith Tuzin, south of Temsaman
- Temsaman, around the town of that name
- Aith Amart, south of Aith Ouriaghel
- Targuist, southeast of Aith Ouriaghel
- Bokoya, in the west of Aith Ouriaghel
- Aith Itteft, east of Bades
- Aith Bu Frah, east of Aith Itteft
- Mestassa, east of Aith Bu Frah
- Mtiwa, between Mestassa and Oued Ouringa
- Beni Guemil, west of Aith Bu Frah
References and notes
- ^ "At best we can define Berbers as Mediterranean. In terms of their physical anthropology, they are more closely related to Sicilians, Spaniards and Egyptians than to Nigerians, Saudi Arabians or Ethiopians", Brett, Michael; & Fentress, Elizabeth, The Berbers (1997), p.4
- ^ Physical Anthropology of European Populations, Mouton, 1980, p.264: "there are three main types to be found (...). The Mediterranean element is always the major one making up about three-quarters of the population , and it appears to have three recognizable variants: (1) an Ibero-insular type (...); (2) an Atlanto-Mediterranean type (...); (3) finally, a type called "Saharan", rather infrequent (...). A second element which is fundamental but not widespread has been classed as Alpine by certain authors. (...) They constitute about one-tenth of the population, but it does not seem that they can be confused with the European Alpine type (...). A third element with Armenoid ties characterizes less than ten percent of the subjects (...). Beside these classes, some traces of the ancient Mechta-Afalou type can be found (...)."
- ^ Les algériens et les populations arabo-berbères du nord de l'Afrique", Chamla, 1974
- ^ Marie-Claude Chamla in Physical Anthropology of European Populations, Mouton, 1980, p.265-66 :"Green or light chesnut-colored eyes can frequently be found in the mountains areas (Kabylie and especially aures) and in the high plains of the east. This relative frequency of "mixed" colored eyes is not peculiar to Algerians but is apparent in other countries of North Africa as well, especially in Morocco (...) The frequency of pale-colored eyes (blue and gray), varies from two to seventy percent according the region concerned"