Berber Chronicle
Olivier Martel
No people has come through history - or rather histories - with as much insouciance and tenacity. That defines the permanent state of dissatisfaction that must obsess any observer: one never tires of trying to pin down the nebulous Berber.
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The Isle of Maghreb
A continent. The Isle of Maghreb of ancient historians. An island bounded on all sides by two seas and a desert. A country of high plateaux and plains; mountains; salt lakes and more or less desert steppes that extend to the two extremities of Tunisia, with its huge olive groves, and Morocco and its market gardens.
An average height of 800m, and peaks over 2000m high in Toubkal and Chelia. Mountains which, in winter, bring forth rain, sometimes snow, and harsh winds.
Seen from the air it is a rugged region, slashed by deep ridges; plains confront high cliffs, as in Zaghouan, Blida and Marrakech; Vast forests of oak or cedar surround valleys where the hard wheat grows, and further to the North, towards the sea, vines stretch out. Neverending pasture covers undelineated space.
Different soils, different lifestyles : many climates alternate, rigorous and mild, rough and sterile or abundant. Such is this ‘Berberia’. But this name imposed by the ancient Romans was never favoured by its inhabitants. The conquering Arabs later transformed it into ‘Brâber’ or ‘Beraber’. A multitude of men and women that spill over the boundaries of the continent, in Lybia, the Sahara. Can one ask for a uniformization of the many tongues spoken by the Berber around the Maghreb ? There are roughly 20% of Berber-spakers in Lybia, 1% in Tunisia, 20% in Algeria, and 40% in Morocco. Ibn Khaldoun, who came from an old family that had emigrated from Arabia to Muslim-held Andalucia, wrote.
‘The Berbers have always been a powerful and fearsome, brave and numerous people. A real people, as so may others in this world, such as the Arabs, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans’. A people who demonstrated immense courage against the Arabs as well as in the infighting between tribes.
Ibn Khaldoun recognized in the Berbers the same traits as were praised about the Christian or Islamic knights in their time: "The nobility of the soul which makes them first amongst nations, the actions for which they must be praised throughout the universe, bravery and swiftness in defending their guests, honouring undertakings, commitments and compacts, patience in adversity, firmness in great afflictions, mildness of character, patience with others’ flaws, respect for the elderly and the pious, promptness in relieving misfortune, hospitality, charity, magnanimity, hatred for oppression…"
Jean Duvignaud
