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Sanhaja
The Sanhaja (Arabic: صنهاجة, romanized: Ṣanhāja, or زناگة Znāga; Berber languages: Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen) were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Many tribes in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia and Western Sahara bore and still carry this ethnonym, especially in its Berber form.
Other names for the population include Zenaga, Znaga, Sanhája, Sanhâdja and Senhaja.
Ibn Khaldun and others defined the Sanhaja as a grouping made up of three separate confederations, not as a single confederation. The distinction is usually made with a diacritical point placed above or below that is present in the Arabic text and often lost in English.
Berber tribes such as the Sanhadja or Kutama are often attributed Himyarite origins by Arab historians (which the Sanhadja likely adopted themselves for political legitimacy). The historian Al-Idrīsī presents one example of the Himyarite myth as following:
He then traced the origin of the Ṣanhādja and Lamṭa tribes to their common male ancestor Lamṭ, son of Za'zā‘, who was from the children (min awlād) of Ḥimyar, and thus attributed to both of them the South Arabian roots. The similar origin is also ascribed to the "brother" of Ṣanhādj and Lamṭ by maternal line, Hawwār, whose forefather was al-Muṣawwir, son of al-Muthannā, son of Kalā‘, son of Ayman, son of Sa‘īd, son of Ḥimyar. According to a legend, his and his tribe's abode was in Hejaz, but they left it in search of lost camels, so that crossed the Nile and reached the Maghrib, where al-Muṣawwir married Tāzikāy, the mother of Ṣanhādj and Lamṭ.
— Anastasia V Stepanova, Origin of the Berber Tribal Confederation of Ṣanhādja
After the arrival of the religion of Islam, the Sanhaja spread out to the borders of the Sudan as far as the Senegal River and the Niger.
Sanhaja Berbers were a large part of the Berber population. From the 9th century, Sanhaja tribes were established in the Middle Atlas range, in the Rif Mountains and on the Atlantic coast of Morocco as well as large parts of the Sanhaja, such as the Kutâma, were settled in central and eastern parts Algeria (Kabylia, Setif, Algiers, Msila) and also in northern Niger. The Kutama created the empire of the Fatimids conquering all North African countries and parts of the Middle East. The Sanhaja dynasties of the Zirids and Hammâdids controlled Ifriqiya until the 12th century and established their rule in all of the countries in the Maghreb region.
Sanhaja
The Sanhaja (Arabic: صنهاجة, romanized: Ṣanhāja, or زناگة Znāga; Berber languages: Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen) were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Many tribes in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia and Western Sahara bore and still carry this ethnonym, especially in its Berber form.
Other names for the population include Zenaga, Znaga, Sanhája, Sanhâdja and Senhaja.
Ibn Khaldun and others defined the Sanhaja as a grouping made up of three separate confederations, not as a single confederation. The distinction is usually made with a diacritical point placed above or below that is present in the Arabic text and often lost in English.
Berber tribes such as the Sanhadja or Kutama are often attributed Himyarite origins by Arab historians (which the Sanhadja likely adopted themselves for political legitimacy). The historian Al-Idrīsī presents one example of the Himyarite myth as following:
He then traced the origin of the Ṣanhādja and Lamṭa tribes to their common male ancestor Lamṭ, son of Za'zā‘, who was from the children (min awlād) of Ḥimyar, and thus attributed to both of them the South Arabian roots. The similar origin is also ascribed to the "brother" of Ṣanhādj and Lamṭ by maternal line, Hawwār, whose forefather was al-Muṣawwir, son of al-Muthannā, son of Kalā‘, son of Ayman, son of Sa‘īd, son of Ḥimyar. According to a legend, his and his tribe's abode was in Hejaz, but they left it in search of lost camels, so that crossed the Nile and reached the Maghrib, where al-Muṣawwir married Tāzikāy, the mother of Ṣanhādj and Lamṭ.
— Anastasia V Stepanova, Origin of the Berber Tribal Confederation of Ṣanhādja
After the arrival of the religion of Islam, the Sanhaja spread out to the borders of the Sudan as far as the Senegal River and the Niger.
Sanhaja Berbers were a large part of the Berber population. From the 9th century, Sanhaja tribes were established in the Middle Atlas range, in the Rif Mountains and on the Atlantic coast of Morocco as well as large parts of the Sanhaja, such as the Kutâma, were settled in central and eastern parts Algeria (Kabylia, Setif, Algiers, Msila) and also in northern Niger. The Kutama created the empire of the Fatimids conquering all North African countries and parts of the Middle East. The Sanhaja dynasties of the Zirids and Hammâdids controlled Ifriqiya until the 12th century and established their rule in all of the countries in the Maghreb region.