Summary of Berbers

The Berbers were Morocco’s first settlers before the Arab invasion in the 7th century. Now, they represent nearly 60% of Morocco’s population. The Berbers live in the mountains and valleys throughout North Africa including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia.

Although Arabic is the official national language, the Berbers speak one of the 300 Berber dialects of the Berber language known as Tamazight. Like most of Morocco’s population, the Berbers practice Islam while preserving their ancient customs and traditions. Berber men wear traditional clocks with wide sleeves and cotton turbans, while women wear colorful dresses with headscarves.

Despite both the fact that they have an established culture and form a majority of the nation’s population, the Berbers still struggle for the recognition of their language and preservation of their indigenous culture by the Moroccan government. Many Berber children, who only speak, Amazigh, fall behind in school and often drop out.

The majority of Berbers work as farmers and herders. Although most of the Berbers were historically nomadic herding their goats and sheep, now many of them have settled in one of Morocco’s many rural mountainous areas. Other Berbers make money by fossil digging – searching for trilobites, creatures that existed in seawater close to 250 million years ago. Workers hack massive rocks to look for these rare fossils, which are then sent abroad and sold to fossil collectors. The recent discovery of trilobites over the last decade has introduced the Berbers to a new livelihood.