Berber tribes

Berber tribes are tribes of Berber descent inhabiting the Maghreb region. They are traditionally divided into three large tribal confederations: Masmuda, Zenata and Sanhaja. They often form smaller confederations of tribes together (for example the Haha or the Ait Yafelman).^{[citation needed]} Medieval historian Ibn Khaldun and other medieval genealogists also categorised Berber tribes into either the Baranis or Butr to refer to whether they were sedentary or nomadic.

Ibn Khaldun divides the Baranis into the Awraba, 'Adjisa, Azdadja, Masmuda-Ghomara. Kutama-Zawawa, Sanhaja and Hawwara. Although, the inclusion of the last three is controversial among medieval genealogists because they were considered to be of Himyarite descent (although that is likely a myth). The eponymous ancestor of the Baranis is said to be Burnus. The Butr are divided into the Lawata, the Nafusa, the Nafzawa [fr], the Banu Fatin [fr] and the Miknasa. The eponymous ancestor of the Butr is said to be Madghis al-Abtar.

According to Ibn Khaldun, the Butr and the Baranis and thus the Berbers as a whole descend from Mazigh, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah. Alternatively, some medieval genealogists attribute Jalut (Goliath) as the ancestor of the Berbers and say he migrated from Palestine to North Africa.

Prior to the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, the Masmuda largely inhabited the interior of Morocco. Some of the branches and sub-groups of the Masmuda are Ghumaras who inhabited the north of Morocco near the Rif, their neighbours the Barghawata from the Sebou River to Oum Er-Rbia River and to the south the Regraga and Haha. Their descendants today are the Shilha.

In the 12th century, the Masmuda of the mountains and the plains united together in support of the religious preacher Ibn Tumart who himself belonged to the Hargha, a tribe of the Masmuda. This union forged the Almohad Caliphate. Another dynasty of Masmuda origin was the Hafsids of Tunisia.

In pre-Islamic times, the Zenata migrated from southern Tunisia and Tripolitania (in Libya) through the Saharan fringes to the Algerian highlands. Some of them remained in Tiaret and Tlemcen while others migrated to the Moulouya River in Morocco. There are also some Zenata in the Sous and Marrakesh area. Some of the historical branches of the Zenata are the Maghrawa, Miknassa and Banu Ifran who played a major role in shaping the history of North Africa. Most Riffian tribes are of Zenata origin.

Although the Masmuda formed the core of the Almohad army and hierarchy, Abd al-Mumin, who founded the dynasty, belonged to an Arabized section of the Zenata known as the Kumiya. He claimed an illustrious Arab and Berber ancestry linking him to the Berber Queen Kahina. From the 13th to 16th centuries, with the fall of the Almohads, many dynasties of Zenata origin were able to take power like the Zayyanids in Algeria and the Marinids and Wattasids in Morocco.

The Sanhaja are composed of branches like the Hawwara, Lawata, Lamtuna, Massufa and Guddula. As early as the third century, they migrated and began to penetrate the Sahara. They continued to gradually advance into the Sahara, expanding into the Sudanian savanna.