Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North
Africa (also Known as the Maghreb: Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria). Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Today many of them speak Arabic. Between
14 and 25 million Berber-speakers live within this region, most densely in Algeria and Morocco, becoming generally scarcer eastward through the rest of the Maghreb like in Tunisia and Libya (
even though
65 % of Tunisians are believed to be of Berber origins but were arabized).
Many Berbers call themselves some variant of the word Imazighen (singular Amazigh), meaning "free
people". This is common in Morocco, but elsewhere within the Berber homeland a
local, more particular term, such as Kabyle or Chaoui, is more often used instead. Historically Berbers have been variously known, for instance as Libyans by the ancient Greeks, as Numidians and Mauri by the Romans, and as Moors by medieval and early modern Europeans. The modern
English term is borrowed from Arabic, but the deeper etymology of "Berber" is not certain.
The best known of them were the Roman author Apuleius, the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, and Saint Augustine of Hippo. A famous Berber living today is the international
football star Zinedine
Zidane.
