Berbers

The Berbers have occupied North Africa, specifically the Maghreb, since the beginning of recorded history and until the Islamic conquests of the 8th century CE constituted the dominant ethnic group in the Saharan region. Modern Berber speakers and cultural practitioners are a minority in North Africa, though Berber groups are considered the descendants of pre-Arab inhabitants of the region. In most classical texts they are referred to as Libyans. A widely-distributed and diverse ethnic group, the ancient Berbers spoke a subset of the Afro-Asiatic languages, linguistically related to that of the Egyptians, Kushites, Arabs, Syrians, Levantine tribes, and Somalis. Known to themselves as Amazigh, the Berbers take their more common name from the Latin barbarus (barbarian), a Roman effort to distinguish the less-developed tribal societies of much of Europe and Africa from their own Hellenic-derived civilization. Libya is a Greek word derived from a regional title, and the term came to be used interchangeably with the concept of Africa.