The Shilha people (, ), or Schleuh or Ishelhien, are a

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

subgroup primarily inhabiting the Anti-Atlas, High Atlas, Sous valley, and Soussi coastal regions of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Overview

The Shilha people traditionally call themselves ''ishelhien''. This endonym is rendered as ''les Chleuh'' in French. The Ishelhien are also known as ''Shluh'' and ''Schlöh''. Among Arabic speakers, ''Chleuh'' serves as an appellation for Berbers generally, although ''Imazighen'' is the proper Berber self-name for Berbers as a whole. The Shilha people live mainly in

's southern Atlantic coast, the High

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

, the Anti Atlas mountains, and the

Sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) (, ) is a historical, cultural and geographical region of Morocco, which constitutes part of the region administration of Souss-Massa and Guelmim-Oued Noun. The region is known for the en ...

Valley. They are of

origin, which also includes other ethnic subgroups such as the

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

, Rif, Kabyle, and Shawia. The Shilha people are a part of Morocco's Berber-speaking community, and the southernmost residing Berber population.

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Zilveren hoofdversiering TMnr 6388-1

In antiquity, Berbers traded with the

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns and

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

in commercial entrepots and colonies along the northwestern littoral. They established the ancient kingdom of

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It extended from central present-day Algeria to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, encompassing northern present-day Morocco, and from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean in the ...

, which fell under Roman rule in 33 CE, before eventually being reunited under Berber sovereignty. During the 7th century, the Islamic

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

invaded the Berber and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

strongholds in the Northwest Africa, seizing

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

in 698 AD. Although the Umayyads nominally controlled Morocco over the following years, their rule was tenuous due to Berber resistance. Shortly in 739 AD, Umayyad Arabs were defeated by the Berbers at the battle of Nobles and Bagdoura. Morocco remained under the rule of Berber kingdoms such as

Barghawata The Barghawatas (or Barghwata, Berghouata) were a Berbers, Berber tribal confederation and religious movement that ruled a region of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast in present-day Morocco between the 8th and 11th centuries. They belonged to the ...

and Midrar... etc. In 789 AD, with the approval of the locals, a former Umayyad courtier established the

Idrisid dynasty The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ') were an Arabs, Arab Muslims, Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I of Morocco, Idris I, the Idrisids were ...

that ruled in Fez. It lasted until 970 AD, as various petty states vied for control over the ensuing centuries. After 1053, Morocco was ruled by a succession of Muslim dynasties founded by Berber tribes. Among these were the

Almoravid dynasty The Almoravid dynasty () was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almo ...

(1053–1147) who spread Islam in Morocco, the

Almohad dynasty The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

(1147–1275), and the

Marinid dynasty The Marinid dynasty ( ) was a Berbers, Berber Muslim dynasty that controlled present-day Morocco from the mid-13th to the 15th century and intermittently controlled other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian P ...

(1213–1524). In 1668, a sharifan family from the east assumed control and established the incumbent Alawite dynasty. The French and Spanish colonial empires partitioned Morocco in 1904, and the southern part of the territory was declared a French protectorate in 1912. Arabization remained an official state policy under both the colonial and succeeding post-independence governments. With the spread of the Berber Spring in Algeria to Berber territory during the 1980s, the Berbers sought to reaffirm their Berber roots.

Society

The Ishelhien mainly live in Morocco's Atlas Mountains and

Valley. Traditionally, they are farmers who also keep herds. Some are semi-nomadic, growing crops during the season when water is available, and moving with their herds during the dry season. The Ishelhien communities in the southwestern mountains of Morocco cooperated with each other in terms of providing reciprocal grazing rights as seasons changed, as well as during periods of war. These alliances were re-affirmed by annual festive gatherings, where one Shilha community would invite nearby and distant Shilha communities.

Language

The Ishelhien speak Tashelhit, a Berber language. It belongs to the

branch of the

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...

family. Their language is sometimes referred to as ''Sous-Berber''. As of 2014, there were around 4.7 million Shilha speakers, constituting 14.1% of the Moroccan population. Tashelhit differs considerably from some other Berber languages, such as those spoken by the Tuareg.

Naming

Shilha speakers usually refer to their language as , (in Tifinagh script: );. This name is morphologically a feminine noun, derived from masculine "male speaker of Shilha". The origin of the names ''Aclḥiy'' and ''Taclḥiyt'' is still unknown. The first appearance of this name in a western printed source is found in Mármol's ''Descripcion general de Affrica'' (1573, part I, book I, chapter XXXIII):

"...and among the Numidians and Getulians of the western part of Afri-ca, they speak Berber with marked local features, and there they call this language Xilha �ilħaand Tamazegt amaziɣt which are very old names."

Now it is used as an

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

among Shilha speakers. Some people and sources say that it is exonymic in origin, as the nominal stem ''šlḥ'' goes back to the Arabic noun "bandit" (plural ). But this meaning is only present in the eastern dialects of Arabic; it does not exist in Maghreb dialects, and this is the weakness of this thesis. Also, the majority of those who tried to search for the etymology of the word used foreign-language dictionaries, rather it was supposed to search for the relevant language first. This is mainly due to the fact that the proponents of this hypothesis were not Shilha speakers.(ar)''
Maghrebvoices - Why do the Berbers of Morocco refuse to call them "Shluh"?
/ref> There are a lot of attempts to explain this name based on the language of Tachelhit. The most logical one of them is by the writer Mohammed Akdim, who emphasized in one of his contributions, that the name ''Shluh'', in fact, is the original name given by the original inhabitants of Morocco, Masmouda in the High Atlas and the possessions of

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

, Souss and the Anti-Atlas On themselves. In Shilha, the verb means "to settle down, reside and live", which indicates that the name means "settled and settled residents or settled residents".(ar)''
Febrayer.com - Shluh, Tashelhit, Masmouda and Masamida"
/ref> He also added that there is no meaning and no use in resorting to searching for the significance of the word and in other languages, which is not crippling. As for going to its interpretation and explanation in the Arabic language, this is the height of linguistic prejudice in the right of the Amazigh.

People of Shilha descent

Aziz Akhannouch Aziz Akhannouch (, ; born 16 August 1961) is a Moroccan politician, businessman, and billionaire who is serving as the 17th Prime Minister of Morocco since 7 October 2021. He is the CEO of Akwa Group and also served as Minister of Agriculture fro ...

* Mohammed al-Mokhtar Soussi *

Saadeddine Othmani Saadeddine Othmani (; ; born 16 January 1956), sometimes translated as Saad Eddine el-Othmani, is a Moroccan politician. He served as the 16th prime minister of Morocco from 17 March 2017 to 7 October 2021. Previously he served as foreign minist ...

Saïd Taghmaoui Saïd Taghmaoui (; born 19 July 1973) is a French actor. One of his major screen roles was that of Saïd in the 1995 French film '' La Haine'', directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Taghmaoui has also appeared in a number of English-language films, wi ...

* Abdallah ibn Yasin *

Ibn Tumart Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad Ibn Tūmart (, ca. 1080–1130) was a Muslim religion, religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern present-day Morocco. He founded and served as the spiritual and first military leader ...

Abu Zakariya Yahya Abu Zakariya Yahya (, Abu Zakariya Yahya I ben Abd al-Wahid (12031249) was the founder and first sultan of the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiya. He was the grandson of Abu Hafs Umar ibn Yahya al-Hintati, the leader of the Hintata and second in command ...

Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs al-Hintati (, d. 25 February 1221), or simply Abd al-Wahid, was the Almohad governor of Ifriqiya from 1207 to 1221 and the father of the first Hafsid sultan Abu Zakariya Yahya. Life Abd al-Wahid belonged t ...

* Faycal Fajr * Oudaden * Ammouri Mbarek * Youssouf Hadji *

Mustapha Hadji Mustapha Hadji (; born 16 November 1971) is a Moroccan football coach and former player. He was named the 50th greatest African player of all time by the African football expert Ed Dove. Early life Hadji was born in Ifrane Atlas-Saghir, Morocc ...

* Yunis Abdelhamid * Youssef Aït Bennasser * Mbark Boussoufa * Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine * Hassan Kachloul * Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder * Issam Chebake * Walid Azaro * Hicham El Majhad * Saadia Himi * Hassan Arsmouk

References

External links

{{Authority control Berber peoples and tribes Berbers in Morocco Ethnic groups in Morocco