Zenata were an ethnic group of North Africa, who were technically an Eastern Berber group and who are found in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
According to Ibn Khaldun, a North African historian of the 14th century, there were Zenata tribes dispatched in all North Africa (current Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria), and some of them may have also lived in modern Egypt as well.
According to Ibn Khaldoun, the Zenata are one of the main divisions of the medieval Berbers, along with Senhaja and Masmuda. He added that these tribes, traditionally nomads, were concentrated in Middle Maghreb (part of the current Algeria); it is why he called "Middle Maghreb" home of Zenata.
There have been some medieval hypothesis about the origin of this Berber group but were already rejected by Ibn Khaldun in the 14th-century. Furthermore they are not accepted by the modern historians such as Emile Felix Gautier or Gabriel Camps.
Zenata would come from Gaetulia (Berber people group from North Africa)[1][2]
According to some hypotheses, the Berber tribes of the Garamantes would be also probably Zenati.[3]
According to the very discussed hoypthesis of Ibn Khaldun, Madghacen was the Patriarch of Zenata.[4]
The oldest mausoleum (between -12 at -3 B.C) in current Algeria is Madghacen mausoleum (Madghis town near Batna). Madghacen was probably a Zenata king of Numidia.[5][6]
The Zenata were known for their horseriding skill. The Spanish word for "horserider", jinete,[7] is derived from their name.
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Their varieties of Berber, collectively termed Zenati, are spread over a wide area; for this reason, several languages are termed "Zenati" or in some cases are spoken by people who call themselves Zenata.
Among these are Beni Snassen (or Ait Iznassen in Tamazight), a tribe that lives in Northern Morocco and Algeria, mostly in the mountains near Berkane called the Beni Snassen mountains; Sened (now extinct), and some Saharan oasis languages.
The Zenata are also recalled in several placenames across the Maghreb, notably Oued Zenati in Algeria. Also a GM
The Egyptians named the Berbers closest to them Libu, and those right behind them in the area where later the Zenati came from, the Meshwesh.
They may be related to the Cinithii mentioned by Tacitus in the Annals who inhabited the lands to the South of Tunisia saying they were not just a tribe but very numerous peoples.
In the 8th century most Berbers and Zenata were Kharijites and took part in the Maysara revolt against Umayyad rule. The last Kharijite rebellion was in the 10th century under Abu Yazid, and was defeated by the Fatimids.
During the 10th century some Zenata from Ifriqiya were predominantly allied with the Caliphate of Cordoba, which fought for control of a part of current Morocco with the Fatimids. In the process the Zenata were pushed out of Morocco by the Sanhaja tribe, allies of the Fatimids.
In the 13th century the Zenata regained political importance with the Abdalwadids in present-day western Algeria and eastern-Morocco
From the 13th to 16th century, in Morocco, the Zenata-based dynasties of the Marinids and the Wattasids ruled the country.[8]