Moroccans

Moroccans (Arabic: المغاربة, romanised: al-Maġāriba) are the citizens and nationals of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers. The term also applies more broadly to any people who share a common Moroccan culture and identity, as well as those who natively speak Moroccan Arabic or other languages of Morocco.

In addition to the approximately 37 million residents of Morocco, there is a large Moroccan diaspora. Considerable Moroccan populations can be found in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands; with smaller notable concentrations in other Arab states as well as Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

In Morocco, ethnic identity is deeply intertwined with language and culture, with the population primarily comprising two major groups: Arabs and Berbers. Moroccans are primarily of Arab and Berber origin as in other neighboring countries in the Maghreb region. Arabs form the largest and majority ethnic group, making up between 65% and 80% of the Moroccan population. It is estimated that the indigenous Berbers constitute between 30% and 35% of the population.

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, 44% of Moroccans are Arab, 24% are Arabized Berbers, 21% are Berbers and 10% are Mauritanian Moors. Additionally, Minority Rights Group International estimates that around 90,000 Sahrawis reside in internationally recognized Morocco, compared to approximately 190,000 in the disputed Western Sahara. Socially, there are two contrasting groups of Moroccans: those living in the cities and those in the rural areas. Among the rural, several classes have formed such as landowners, peasants, and tenant farmers. Moroccans live mainly in the north and west portions of Morocco. However, they prefer living in the more fertile regions near the Mediterranean Sea.^{[citation needed]}

The Arab population of Morocco is a result of the inflow of nomadic Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula since the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 7th century with a major wave in the 11th century. Since the 7th century, the influx of Arab migrants from the Arabian Peninsula has contributed to shaping Morocco's demographic, cultural, and genetic landscape. The major migration to the region by Arab tribes was in the 11th century when the tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, along with others, were sent by the Fatimids to defeat a Berber rebellion and then settle in the Maghreb. According to Ibn Khaldun, whole tribes set off with women, children, ancestors, animals and camping equipment. These tribes, who arrived in the region of Morocco around the 12th-13th centuries, and later the Ma'qil in the 14th century, contributed to a more extensive ethnic, genetic, cultural, and linguistic Arabization of Morocco over time, especially beyond the major urban centres and the northern regions which were the main sites of Arabization up to that point.

The Berber population mainly inhabits the mountainous regions of Morocco where some preserve Berber culture, and are split into three groups; Rifians, Shilha, and Central Atlas Amazigh, who inhabit the Rif mountains, Anti-Atlas mountains, and Middle Atlas mountains respectively. The Berbers were an amalgamation of Ibero-Maurisian and a minority of Capsian stock blended with a more recent intrusion associated with the Neolithic Revolution. Out of these populations, the proto-Berber tribes formed during the late Paleolithic era. As a result of the influx of Arab nomads, some Berbers who sought the protection of the Bedouin became Arabized becoming Arabized Berbers.

A small minority of the population are identified as Haratin and Gnawa, These are sedentary agriculturalists of non-Arab and non-Berber origin, who inhabit the southern and eastern oases and speak either Berber or Arabic. Even though it is commonly believed that the Haratin all descend from West African slaves, many of them were native to southern Morocco descending from black people who inhabited the Draa since time immemorial. Some parts of the population are descendants of refugees who fled Spain after the Reconquista in the 15th century called Moriscos. The Trans-Saharan slave trade brought a population of Sub-Saharan Africans to Morocco. After the founding of Israel and start of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, many Jews felt compelled to leave Morocco especially after the anti-Jewish riots in Oujda, and many fled to Israel, Europe, and North America, and by 1967, 250,000 Jews left Morocco.

In 670 AD, the first Arab conquest of the North African coastal plain took place under Uqba ibn Nafi, a general serving under the Umayyad Caliphate, marking the first wave of Arab migration to Morocco. Arab tribes such as Banu Muzaina migrated, and the Arab Muslims in the region had more impact on the culture of the Maghreb than the region's conquerors before and after them. The Umayyads brought their language, their system of government, and Islam to Morocco and many Berbers converted to Islam. The first independent state in the area of modern Morocco was the Emirate of Nekor, an Arab emirate in north Morocco ruling as a client state of the Umayyad Caliphate. It was founded by the Himyarite descendant Salih ibn Mansur in 710. After the outbreak of the Berber Revolt in 739, the Berbers formed other independent states such as the Emirate of Sijilmasa and the Barghawata Confederation.