Maghrebis Explained

Group:Maghrebis
Native Name:Arabic: المغاربيون
Popplace:Maghreb
Pop1:45,917,000[1]
Pop2:38,670,000[2]
Pop3:12,135,000[3]
Pop4:7,112,000[4] [5] [6]
Pop5:5,326,000[7]
Pop6:4,975,000[8]
Pop7:750,000[9] -950,000[10]
Pop8:274,425[11]
Related:Berbers, Maghrebi Arabs, Maghrebi Jews, Tuareg, other Afroasiatic-speaking peoples
Footnotes: Without Ceuta and Melilla.

Maghrebis or Maghrebians (Arabic: المغاربيون|translit=al-Māghāribiyyun) are the inhabitants of the Maghreb region of North Africa.[12] It is a modern Arabic term meaning "Westerners", denoting their location in the western part of the Arab world. Maghrebis are predominantly of Arab and Berber origins.

Name

Maghrebis were known in ancient and medieval times as the Roman Africans or Moors. The word Moor is of Phoenician origin.[13] The etymology of the word can be traced back to the Phoenician term Mahurin, meaning "Westerners", from which the ancient Greeks derive Mauro, and from which Latin derives Mauri.[14]

The Arabic term maghrib was given by the first Muslim Arab settlers to the recently conquered region located west of the Umayyad capital of Damascus in the 7th century AD.[15] It initially referred to the area extending from Alexandria in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west.[16]

Religion

Historic records of religion in the Maghreb region show its gradual inclusion in the Classical World, with coastal colonies established first by Phoenicians, Greeks, and later extensive conquest and rule by the Romans. By the 2nd century common era, the area had become a center of Latin-speaking Christianity. Both Roman settlers and Romanized Berbers converted to Christianity. The region produced figures such as Christian Church writer Tertullian (155 – 202); and Christian Church martyrs or leading figures such as St Cyprian of Carthage (210 – 258); Saint Monica; her son the philosopher Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430); and Julia of Corsica (5th century). The region was a birthplace of many Christians movements like Arianism and Donatism, now cast-off.

The domination of Christianity ended when Arab invasions brought Islam in 647. Carthage fell in 698 and the remainder of the region followed in subsequent decades. Gradual Islamization proceeded, although surviving letters showed correspondence from regional Christians to Rome up until the 9th century. Christianity was still a living faith. Christian bishoprics and dioceses continued to be active, with relations continuing with Rome. As late as Pope Benedict VII (974-983) reign, a new Archbishop of Carthage was consecrated. Evidence of Christianity in the region then faded through the 10th century.[17]

During the seventh century, the region's peoples began their nearly total conversion to Islam. There was a small but thriving Local Jewish community, as well as a small Local Christian community. Most Muslims follow the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. Small Ibadi communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating marabouts and saints' tombs is found throughout regions inhabited by Berbers. Any map of the region demonstrates the tradition by the proliferation of "sidi"s, showing places named after the marabouts. Like some other religious traditions, this has substantially decreased over the 20th century. A network of zawiyas traditionally helped proliferate basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.

Recently, the Christian community of Berber or Arab descent has experienced significant growth, and conversions to Christianity, especially to Evangelicalism, is common in Algeria,[18] especially in the Kabylie,[19] Morocco[20] and Tunisia.[21] A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria.

Culture

See main article: Music of the Maghreb, Berber music, Maghreb cuisine and Berber cuisine.

Diaspora

France

Maghrebis have settled mainly in the industrial regions in France, especially in the Île-de-France and Mediterranean regions. Many famous French people like Édith Piaf,[22] Isabelle Adjani, Arnaud Montebourg, Alain Bashung, Dany Boon, Gérald Darmanin and many others have Maghrebi ancestry.

According to Michel Tribalat, a researcher at INED, there were more than 4.6 million people of Maghrebi origin (with at least one Maghrebi grandparent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia) living in France in 2011 (3 million in 1999).[23] [24] Below is a table of population of Maghrebi origin in France in 2011, numbers are in thousands:

Country of origin (2011)Immigrants1st generation born in France 2nd generation born in France (aged under 60 only)Total
Algeria7371 1705632 470
Morocco6796981301 507
Tunisia246280129655
Total Maghreb1 6622 1488214 631
Note: for second generation born in France only individuals under 60 are taken into account.

According to Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies), 16% of newborns in France between 2006 and 2008 have at least one Maghrebi grandparent born in the Greater Maghreb.[25]

In 2005, the percentage of young people under 18 of Maghrebi origin (at least one immigrant parent) were about 7% in Metropolitan France, 12% in Île-de-France, 13% in Lyon, 21% in Perpignan, 22% in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, 37% in 18th arrondissement of Paris and 40% in several arrondissements of Marseille.[26] [27]

According to other sources between 5 and 8 million people of Maghrebin origin live in France, and between 150,000 and 300,000 people of Maghrebin origin live in Canada.[28] [29]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Algeria Population (LIVE). 2021-10-10. 10 October 2021. 23 February 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230223154930/https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/algeria-population/#:~:text=The%20current%20population%20of%20Algeria,the%20latest%20United%20Nations%20data.. live.
  2. Web site: Morocco Population (2021) - Worldometer. 8 January 2021. 26 October 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221026160119/https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/morocco-population/. live.
  3. Web site: Libya. CIA World Factbook.. 5 February 2013. 9 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210109235257/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/libya. live.
  4. "Estimé à six millions d'individus, l'histoire de leur enracinement, processus toujours en devenir, suscite la mise en avant de nombreuses problématiques...", « Être Maghrébins en France » in Les Cahiers de l'Orient, n° 71, troisième trimestre 2003
  5. Maghreb people represent 45% of people born in Arab countries who emigrated to Europe and N.America, they are 41% of the all Immigrants in Europe
  6. Web site: css.escwa.org . 9 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120317085558/http://css.escwa.org.lb/sdd/docs/TMMIGE.pdf . 17 March 2012 . dead .
  7. Web site: Immigrés et descendants d'immigrés . Insee . fr . 12 Nov 2022 . 12 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221112180549/https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4797578 . live .
  8. July 2015 . Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat (RGPH) 2013 . fr . 1: Répartition spatiale de la population . http://www.ons.mr/images/rgph2013/Chapitres_RGPH_Fr/Chapitre01_R%C3%A9partition_spatiale_fr.pdf . v . National Statistical Office of Mauritania . 20 December 2015 .
  9. Web site: Les Maghrebins en Israel. fr. 14 May 2020. 20 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210920051014/https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAFR/MFA-Archive/Pages/Les%20Maghrebins%20en%20Israel.aspx. live.
  10. Les immigrés juifs maghrébins en Israël . Migrations Société . 2008 . 120 . 6 . 131–154 . fr . Sharaby . Rachel . Wenden . Catherine Wihtol de . Giovanella . Myrna . 10.3917/migra.120.0131 . free . 14 May 2020 . 26 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200626071521/https://www.cairn.info/revue-migrations-societe-2008-6-page-131.htm . live .
  11. Web site: Census Profile, 2021 Census – Ethnic or Cultural Background – Canada – provinces & territories . 14 July 2024.
  12. Web site: The Arab world . AMBergh Education . The North African part of the Arab World to the west of Egypt and Sudan is known as the Maghreb (gharb meaning west). . 17 March 2019 . 3 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190503143544/http://www.ambergh.com/learn-arabic/the-arab-world . live .
  13. Book: First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936 . 1993 . BRILL . 978-90-04-09796-4 . 560 . en.
  14. Book: Skutsch, Carl . Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities . 2013-11-07 . Routledge . 978-1-135-19388-1 . 31 . en.
  15. Book: Mitchell . Peter . The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology . Lane . Paul . 2013-07-04 . OUP Oxford . 978-0-19-162615-9 . 1071 . en.
  16. Book: Idris El Hareir . The Spread of Islam Throughout the World . Ravane Mbaye . UNESCO . 2011 . 978-92-3-104153-2 . 375–376.
  17. Book: Christianity in North Africa and West Asia. 9781683072874. May 2020. Hendrickson Publ.
  18. [Lucien Oulahbib]
  19. Web site: Morocco: General situation of Muslims who converted to Christianity, and specifically those who converted to Catholicism; their treatment by Islamists and the authorities, including state protection (2008-2011) . 12 December 2015 . 1 March 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190301151201/https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4361e72.html . live .
  20. https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90222.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Tunisia
  21. Carolyn Burke. No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011, p.5
  22. Michèle Tribalat, « Mariages « mixtes » et immigration en France », Espace populations sociétés [En ligne], 2009/2 | 2009, mis en ligne le 01 avril 2011
  23. Michèle Tribalat, « Une estimation des populations d'origine étrangère en France en 2011 », Espace populations sociétés, 2015/1-2, en ligne
  24. http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/ref/FPORSOC11d_VE22Immig.pdf Les immigrés, les descendants d'immigrés et leurs enfants
  25. Michèle Tribalat, Revue Commentaire, juin 2009, n°126, p.436
  26. Michèle Tribalat, Les yeux grands fermés, Denoël, 2010
  27. [Robert Castel]
  28. Jean-Baptiste . Drouet . Alex Masson . December 2008 . Culture Le cinéma français est-il raciste ? . French . . 75–78 . 14 January 2009 . 14 December 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081214075221/http://bworldconnection.com/culture.html?idA=175&rub=Culture . live .