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

Berbers (also called Amazighs, "free men") are an ethnic group found natively in the countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa, and also found as immigrants in many countries, especially France. Berbers usually speak the Berber language. Berbers were both nomadic and land owners according to the region they live in. Most Berbers are Muslims or follow the native animist Berber religion.

This map shows where Berber is spoken.
Young Berber woman from Tunisia, with tattoo and traditional jewellery (early 1900s)
An old Amazigh room in Morocco.

Images for kids

Hoggar painting, Tassili n'Ajjer
An Egyptian statuette representing a Libyan Libu Berber from the reign of Rameses II (19th Dynasty) in 1279–1213 BCE. (Louvre Museum, Paris)
A faience tile from the throne of Pharaoh Ramesses III depicting a tattooed ancient Libyan chief c. 1184 to 1153 BC
Ancient Libyan delegation at Persepolis
Heracles wrestling with the Libyan giant Antaeus
Masinissa (c. 240 – c. 148), King of Numidia, Berber and Roman script
A map of Numidia
Mauretanian cavalry under Lusius Quietus fighting in the Dacian wars, from the Column of Trajan
Fernández de Lugo presenting the captured Guanche kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella, 1497
Tlemcen, Patio of the Zianids
Berber architecture as seen in the Grande Poste d'Alger building in Algiers
A statue of Dihya, a seventh-century female Berber religious and military leader
The Almohad Empire, a Berber empire that lasted from 1121 to 1269
Castillian ambassadors meeting Almohad caliph Abu Hafs Umar al-Murtada, contemporary depiction from the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Old fortress at Calatrava la Vieja. The site was used during the Muslim period from about 785 until the fall of the Caliphate of Cordova.
Origin and conquests of the Fatimids
The Almoravid realm at its greatest extent, c. 1120
Berber village in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco
Abd el-Krim featured in the magazine Time in 1925
Demonstration of Kabyles in Paris, April 2016
Sanhaja Berber women in the 1970s
Berber village in the Atlas mountains
Areas in North Africa where Berber languages are spoken
Zinedine Zidane, born to Berber parents from Algeria (Kabyle; Berbers in France)
The mausoleum of Madghacen
Traditional Berber penannular brooch, a custom dating from the pre-Abrahamic era.
Arius
Saint Augustine
Tertullian
Tariq ibn Ziyad, Berber Muslim and Umayyad general who led the conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711
Over a period of thirty years (1325–1354), Moroccan Berber traveller Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands.
The most common traditional music instruments
The fantasia festival, 19th-century illustration
Remains of Germa, a capital of the Garamantes (first millennium BC)
Numidian tomb of Medracen (c. 200-150 BC)
Numidian mausoleum of Dougga, 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), an example of a traditional "fortified mosque"
The central mosque in Ghardaïa, an example of local architecture in the M'zab region (Algeria)
Berber henna decoration
Detail of a traditional Berber carpet
Algerian Berber calendar
Ancient Tifinagh scripts in Algeria
Jewelry from Kabylia region, Algeria
Customized tajine
Couscous
Turkey tajine

Berber people facts for kids

Images for kids

See also