Ait Touzine Ayt Tuzin Beni Touzine | |
|---|---|
Caïdat | |
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| Country | Morocco |
| Region | Oriental |
| Province | Driouch |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
Ait Touzine (Variant forms Beni Touzine, Ayt Tuzin and Beni Tuzin [1] ) is one of the biggest Riffian tribes from the central Rif region in Morocco.
In the early 13th century, the Zenata Amazigh Marinids entered the Rif and there they defeated the Almohads in a great battle in 1216. According to Ibn Khaldun, the Marinid leader Abd al-Haqq I married a woman of the Tafersit tribe, but according to Luis del Marmol Carvajal she was of the Ait Touzine tribe. This Riffian woman became the mother of the Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq. The Ait Touzine were related to the Marinid rulers of Fes and did not have to pay taxes or tribute.
Leo Africanus mentions in his book "Description of North Africa" (1526) that the Ait Touzine was a fairly prosperous area, where the inhabitants worked their land in complete freedom. Furthermore, one of the king's counselors was a learned man from Ait Touzin. According to Luis del Marmol Carvajal the Ait Touzine are of Zenata origin.
The Ait Touzine tribesmen played an important role during the Rif War in the 1920s. They fought together with tribes such as Ait Ouriaghel led by the Riffian resistance fighter Abd el-Krim and tribes such as Ait Oulichek to fight against the Spanish Invaders. The members of the Ait Touzine tribe went together to Dhar Obaran where they encountered the Riffians of the other tribes: the Ibeqoyen and the Ait Ouriaghel (these two tribes had at the time formed an alliance with the Ait Touzine). This became an important highlight in the Riffian resistance against the Spaniards, namely the battle of Dhar Obaran. Here the Spaniards were crushed in spectacular fashion. The efforts of all these men had a major influence on the emergence of the Rif Republic. After this great victory of the trio Ait Touzine-Ibeqoyen-Ait Ouriaghel, all the other tribes of the Rif region decided to support the resistance. The tribes gained confidence in the resistance. The number of volunteers kept growing. By all these volunteers from all other tribes, a Riffian unity arose. This united group of Riffians, centered on Ait Ouriaghel and Ait Touzine, once again surprisingly defeated the Spaniards in the Battle of Annual 50 days after the Battle of Dhar Obaran. This battle is better known to the Spaniards as el desastre de Annual. After the Battle of Annual, the Rif Republic was proclaimed through the efforts of all united Riffians.
Nowadays a large number of the Ait Touzine are living in Europe as a result of the migration in the 1970s. Most of them moved to the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Ait Touzine tribe can be divided into five sub-tribes.
•Igharbiyen (Iferni and Midar and surroundings)
•Ait Akki (from the Nekkur valley to the Ighzar Amekrane).
•Ait Beräiez (Ijjarmaouas and Iwardijen)
•Ait Tseft (From the Ighzar Nekkur to Kassita)
•Ait Taaban (Surroundings of Tleta n Azlaf)
The territory of the Ait Touzine tribe extends from the Nekour River near Al Hoceima to Driouch and from Temsamane to the Gzenaya tribe.
Beni Touzine is also the name of a caïdat in the cercle of Rif in Driouch Province, Oriental, Morocco. [2]
Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Khaṭābī, better known as Abd el-Krim, was a Moroccan political and military leader and the president of the Republic of the Rif. He and his brother M'Hammad led a large-scale revolt by a coalition of Riffian tribes against the Spanish and French Protectorates of the Rif and the rest of Morocco. His guerrilla tactics, which included the first-ever use of tunneling as a technique of modern warfare, directly influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Che Guevara. He also became one of the major figures of Arab nationalism, which he actively supported.
Tarifit Berber, also known as Riffian or locally as Tamazight is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,271,000 Rifians primarily in the Rif provinces of Nador, Al Hoceima and Driouch.
The Rif, also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterranean to the north, and by the Ouergha River to the south. The Rif mountains are separated into the eastern Rif mountains and western Rif mountains.
The Zenata are a group of Berber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
The Marinid dynasty was a Berber Muslim dynasty that controlled present-day Morocco from the mid-13th to the 15th century and intermittently controlled other parts of North Africa and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) around Gibraltar. It was named after the Banu Marin, a Zenata Berber tribe originally from Algeria. It ruled the Marinid sultanate, founded by Abd al-Haqq I.
The Ait Ouriaghel or Ait Waryaghar is one of the biggest Riffian tribes of the Rif region of the north-eastern part of Morocco and one of the most populous. Ait Waryagher means "those who do not back off/ those who do not retreat". They inhabit most of the territory around the city of Al Hoceima. The Ait Waryaghar speak the "Western-Tarifit" dialect of the Riffian language.
Mohammed ben al-Hajj Amezian, also known as El Mizzian by the Spanish, was a Moroccan sharif who served as the main leader of the Rifian resistance against Spanish rule in northern Morocco prior to the rise of Abd el-Krim in 1921.
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Abu Muhammad Abd al-Haqq I was the first leader of the Marinid dynasty of the Maghreb. He was descended from a noble family from the Zab region, where he was born.
Juan Picasso González was a Spanish military man and general who participated in the Rif War with the Spanish Army of Africa in late 19th century and early 20th century. He was a military investigation instructor known for "Expediente Picasso", an investigation report related to the historical defeat of the Spanish Army, some 20,000 soldiers and officers, of which some 8,000 were killed, against the Riffian rebels at the Battle of Annual, on July 1, 1921; known as The disaster of Annual.
Riffians or Rifians are a Berber ethnic group originally from the Rif region of northeastern Morocco. Communities of Riffian immigrants are also found in southern Spain, Netherlands and Belgium as well as elsewhere in Western Europe. They are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims, but retain their pre-Islamic traditions such as high status for Riffian women.
Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Haqq I and Oum el-Iman bint Ali el-Bethary, a Zenata woman. Some sources add her mother to be known as Oum el Youm and a daughter of a Zenata clan leader of the Tafersit region.
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Maghrebi Arabs or North African Arabs are the inhabitants of the Maghreb region of North Africa whose ethnic identity is Arab, whose native language is Arabic and trace their ancestry to the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. This ethnic identity is a product of the centuries-long Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century, which changed the demographic scope of the Maghreb and was a major factor in the ethnic, linguistic and cultural Arabization of the Maghreb region. The descendants of the original Arab settlers who continue to speak Arabic as a first language currently form the single largest population group in North Africa.
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Ait Oulichek is an Amazigh Riffian tribe located in the North-Eastern province of Morocco. Ayt or Beni is referred to as 'Descendants of' with the latter being the most common form of address of the Oulichek tribe until the recent Arabization in Morocco initiative.
Mohammed Sellam Amezian was a Riffian politician, a member of the Democratic Independence Party and a veteran of the pre-independence guerilla Army of Liberation. He led the Rif Revolt (1958-1959).
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Oum el-Iman bint Ali el-Bethary also known as Oum el-Youmn bint Mahalli was the wife of the Moroccan Emir of the Marinid Sultanate Abd al-Haqq I and the mother of Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq. She was from the Zenata group of tribes and is considered a walia (saint) in Morocco.
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. 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.