Berber people Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Berbers, Amazighs | Imaziɣn
Total population

c. more than 30 million Berber speakers; 40 m. Arabic speakers
Regions with significant populations
Morocco: 17 million (60% of total pop.) Algeria: 13 m (40% of total pop.). Mali: 800,000 Niger: 750,000 Mauritania: 680,000 Libya: 470,000 Europe: 4 million
Languages
Berber languages Maghrebi Arabic
Religion
Islam (mostly Sunni), Christianity, Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Ancient Egyptian people, Semitic people, Iberian people

The Berbers (also known as Amazighs, meaning "free people") are an ethnic group from North Africa. They have lived in countries like Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia for thousands of years. Many Berbers also live in other countries, especially France, as immigrants.

Berbers usually speak Berber languages. Depending on where they live, some Berbers have been nomadic (meaning they move around) while others own land. Most Berbers are Muslims. Some also follow older native Berber beliefs.

This map shows where Berber is spoken.
A young Berber woman from Tunisia, wearing traditional jewelry (early 1900s).
An old Amazigh room in Morocco.

Images for kids

A painting from the Hoggar in Tassili n'Ajjer.
An ancient Egyptian statuette of a Libyan Berber from the time of Rameses II (1279–1213 BCE). (Louvre Museum, Paris)
A faience tile from the throne of Pharaoh Ramesses III showing an ancient Libyan chief around 1184 to 1153 BC.
An ancient Libyan group visiting Persepolis.
Heracles wrestling with the Libyan giant Antaeus.
Masinissa (around 240–148 BC), a King of Numidia, shown with Berber and Roman writing.
A map of Numidia.
Mauretanian cavalry led by Lusius Quietus fighting in the Dacian wars, from the Column of Trajan.
Alonso Fernández de Lugo presenting the captured Guanche kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1497.
Tlemcen, showing the Patio of the Zianids.
Berber architecture seen in the Grande Poste d'Alger building in Algiers.
A statue of Dihya, a female Berber leader from the seventh century.
The Almohad Empire, a Berber empire that existed from 1121 to 1269.
Castillian ambassadors meeting Almohad caliph Abu Hafs Umar al-Murtada, from the Cantigas de Santa Maria.
An old fortress at Calatrava la Vieja. It was used during the Muslim period from about 785 until the fall of the Caliphate of Cordova.
The origin and conquests of the Fatimids.
The Almoravid empire at its largest around 1120.
A Berber village in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco.
Abd el-Krim featured in Time magazine in 1925.
A demonstration of Kabyles in Paris, April 2016.
Sanhaja Berber women in the 1970s.
A Berber village in the Atlas mountains.
Areas in North Africa where Berber languages are spoken.
Zinedine Zidane, a famous football player born to Berber parents from Algeria (Kabyle).
The mausoleum of Madghacen.
A traditional Berber penannular brooch, a type of pin that has been used for a very long time.
Arius.
Saint Augustine.
Tertullian.
Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Berber Muslim general who led the conquest of Hispania in 711.
Over thirty years (1325–1354), the Moroccan Berber traveler Ibn Battuta visited much of the Islamic world and other lands.
Some common traditional music instruments.
The fantasia festival, from a 19th-century drawing.
The remains of Germa, a capital of the Garamantes (first millennium BC).
The Numidian tomb of Medracen (around 200-150 BC).
The Numidian mausoleum of Dougga, an example of a "tower tomb" (2nd century BC).
The Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh, built by the Almohads in the 12th century.
The ksar of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco.
Ksar Ouled Soltane, an example of a multi-level ghorfa in southern Tunisia.
The Fadhloun Mosque in Djerba (Tunisia), a traditional "fortified mosque."
The central mosque in Ghardaïa, an example of local architecture in the M'zab region (Algeria).
Berber henna decoration.
A close-up of a traditional Berber carpet.
An Algerian Berber calendar.
Ancient Tifinagh scripts in Algeria.
Jewelry from the Kabylia region, Algeria.
A decorated tajine.
Couscous.
Turkey tajine.

Berber people facts for kids

Images for kids

See also