African Moors: The Appearance of

the Original Berbers According

to European Perceptions By
Dana Marniche
The Appearance of the Original Berbers According to European Perceptions
All the early major Berber tribes including the Masmuda, Sanhaja, Ketama
Zenata and Nafusa are described as dark reddish brown like the Indi or as
blacks or Ethiopians in early documents. The notion of the early Berbers as
being whites or Caucasoid is a new and racist one related to the concept of
the African Hamite. Certainly the original Berber-speakers were never
referred to as anything but black or something near it until the 12th
century and were otherwise considered the color of Abyssinians and other so
called Indi.

Kabyle Girl
Even the Kabyles a notoriously fair-skinned Berber people of North Africa
are up until the 19th century described as brown apart from a few clans.
(See quotes below). The knowledge that Europeans were changing the
complexion literally and figuratively of North Africa up until the 19th century
has disappeared from modern European histories. Most know about the large
part played by sub-saharan black slaves in the making of modern North
Africa and Arabia while the white slave trade which was in fact dominant
trade in North Africa until the fall of Constantinople (Istanbul in Turkey) in the
15th century had been largely ignored in historical writings of the 20th. Yet it
was only a few centuries ago that Europeans visiting North Africa
commenting on the fact that, on almost every street of the cities of Barbary,
Europeans could be seen harnessed to carts like draught horses or selling
water from jars loaded on the backs of donkeys.
1809 Commentary on those called Moors by an early 19th century
observer: They carry the Christian captives about the desert to the different
markets to sell them for they soon discover that their habits of life render
them unserviceable , or very inferior to the black slaves of Timbuktoo. from
An Account of the Empire of Marocco, by J. G. Jackson published 1809 and
1814.
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2003 From 1500 to 1650 when trans-Atlantic slaving was still in its infancy
more Europeans were taken to Barbary than black African slaves to the
Americas. See, Robert Davis Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery
in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800, MacMillan
Publishers, published 2003.
The impact of the white slave trade and its contribution to the modern
biology and appearance of the modern North African stems from before the
Arabian and Muslim waves into Africa. The Roman ruler Claudian spoke
concerning Gildo, the Moorish ruler of Africa and treatment of Roman
women from the Levant by this North African chief and his countrymen:
4th century Claudian wrote, when tired of each noblest matron Gildo
hands her over to the Moors. These Sidonian mothers, married in Carthage
city must needs mate with barbarians. He thrusts upon me an Ethiopian as a
son-in law, a Berber as a husband. The hideous hybrid affrights its cradle.
Claudian, by Claudius Claudianus, translation by Maurice Platnauer,
Published by G.P. Putnams sons, 1922 p. 113. (Gildo was brother to other
Berber chiefs Firmus and Maseczel. Gildo is related to Aguellid or Galdi which
remains the modern Tuarek word for chief. Masek, Amazigh ot Imoshagh was
the name for the ancient and modern Tuareg clans in general. The Mezikes
tribes were called Ethiopians in a Roman text of the time. )

Kayble boy1
1stt c. A.D. Diodorus Siculus speaks in reference to the expedition of
Agathocles a Sardinian general, of three Libyan tribes on the coast of Tunisia,
the Micatani and Zufoni (see Zafan ),who were nomads and the Asfodelodi,
who by the color of their skin resembled the Ethiopians , p. 50 The
Mediterranean Race Book XX, 38, 57 Guiseppe Sergi, 1901. The Micatani
were also called Ukutameni and Khethim by Josephus. In later writings they
are called Ketama Berbers. The name Maketa or Imakitan remains a name
for the eastern branches of the Tuareg.
1st century A.D. Marcus Valerian Martial was one of the earliest Europeans
to use the phrase woolly hair like a Moor in one of his Satires, and the
phrase was commonly used up until the Middle Ages. See Nature Knows No
Color Line by J.A. Rogers, 1952. p. 50 The Muslim era didnt begin until the
birth of Muhammed, the Prophet, over four centuries after Martial. By the 7th
century the word came to be used for Arabians who in the early era of Islam
for the most part were also described as of near black complexion.
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1st century Silius Italicus also describes the Moors with the term Nigra
meaning black. In the 3rd century Roman dramatist Platus or Plautus
maintained the name Maure was a synonym for Niger which was a
common term for the word black. 6th century Isidore Archbishop of Seville
claimed the word Maure meant black according to Brunson and Runoko
Rashidi in The Moors in Antiquity in Golden Age of the Moor, 1991.
6th A.D.- Corippus uses the phrase facies nigroque colorus meaning faces
or appearance of black color to describe the North African Berbers. In his
book Johannis, I/ 245.
6th A.D. Procopius in his History of the Wars book IV contrasting the
Germanic Vandals who had settled in North Africa with the Maures claimed
the Vandals were not black skinned like the Maurusioi . The tribes he
classified as Maurusioi are those now classified as ancient Berbers, the
Numidians, Masaesyle, Gaitules, Massyles and Mezikes several other
Berber tribes then settled between Tunisia and Morocco.
After the 8th century the term Moor came to be used for the many Arabian
clans who had invaded the Mediterranean and Africa because of their
complexions which were the same dark brown or near black to absolutely
black color of the Berbers.

1914 Archeologists observance of the ancient North Africans portrayed in

ancient Egyptian tomb paintings, The brun Libyan type is the only one
portrayed in the Old Empire, the xanthrochroids predominate in the New
Empire representations. P. 40 from The Eastern Libyan Oric Bates The
intrusive xanthrochroidsdo not appear before the XII dynasty It safe to
say that they were immigrants. from The Eastern Libyans by Oric Bates
Frank Cass publishers 1914. pp. 40 and 41. (These paintings of the ancient
Libyans as a brown in color are in the works of Nina Davies.)
1939 The extreme long-heads, concentrated in the Hoggar and in parts of
the Algerian plateau are the Tuareg and the purer families of ancestral
nomadic Berbers, preserving the head form which they brought from East
Africa, their Hamitic homeland. Carleton Coon The Races of Europe, p. 257
1979 reprint.
Five major tribes of Berbers were spoken of by early Muslim writers including
the Sanhaja, Masumuda Zenata, Ketama and Goddula which were
categorized into dozens of others which in turn were divided into many more.
Among them were the early Kabyles originally a group of Sanhaja Berbers.
Most descriptions refer to the modern Kabyles as fair-skinned, but in the 19th
century and early 20th, descriptions and in fact many photographs depict
them as dark and near black. (Photos from the 19th century show both very
dark-skinned and near white skinned Kabyle individuals from different
villages in the region).
1890 The Kabyles or Kabaily of Algerian and Tunisian territoriesbesides
tillage, work the mines contained in their mountainsThey live in huts made
of branches of trees and covered with clay which resemble the Magalia of the
old NumidiansThey are of middle stature, their complexion brown and
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sometimes nearly black. Written in The Encyclopedia Britannica: Dictionary

of Arts, Sciences and General Literature Henry G. Allen Company p. 261
Volume I 1890.
1834 The Scotsman Thomas Campbell says, The Kabylesdress like the
Arabs and a part from a few tribes, are brown complexioned and black
haired p. 109 Barbary and Enlightenment: European Attitudes Toward the
Maghreb in the 18th Century, Ann Thomson. Published 1987 by E. J. Bull
A description by Gillebert dHercourt in Etudes Anthropologiques sur
Soixante-Seize indigenes de lAlgerie in 1865 said the Kabyle crania that were
studied were generally dolichocephalic. In fact the physical anthropological
studies done on ancient and modern North Africans show that early North
Africans were dolichocephalic like the Tuareg and other dark-skinned berber
tribes.
Not surprisingly most modern Berber-speakers who are fair skinned including
modern Kabyles are predominantly mesocephalic (middle headed) or even
brachycephalic. It is interesting that the dress of these modern Kabyle
women resembles that modern women of the Balkans and that palm and
blood group types are also like those of European Mediterranean Greeks.
Many of these Kabyles also have a strong Turkish influence as judged from
the recognizable Turkish Eurasian or even East Asian facial features.
Obviously some groups other than a Berber one makes up the main genetic
strain in many modern Kabyle-speakers. Culturally the modern fair-skinned
Kabyles have been documented as among the most patrifocal people in
North Africa whereas the ancient and modern Berbers like the Tuareg were
notably matrilineal and matrifocal to the chagrin of early Muslim
documenters who considered this among their wicked customs.
1901 The Oases if Nafzawa and Wed Suef and Wed Regh and other Berbers
of the Sus as of very dark complexion in Guiseppi Sergi The Mediterranean
Race: The Study of the origin of European peoples The Walter Scott
Publishing Company
On the Libyo Berbers called Gaetules or Jeddala
The Gaitules were the most populous of the Libyan tribes of Strabos time
(1st century AD). Josephus claimed they were descended from Havilah or the
Avalioi who he says children of Kush child of Ham.
1st -2nd century Juvenal, the Roman writer in his Satire V. 53 referred to a
Gaetulian, as a black a Moor so black youd rather not see him at
midnight.. Found in Madans translation of Juvenal, vol. I by J. Vincent
published at Oxford.
Among the Gaetules were a tribe Dari or Darae Gaetuli, there was also a
stream called Daradae Ethiopus (DARAE were a Gaetulian tribe in the W. of
Africa, on a mountain stream called Dara, on the S. steppes of M. Atlas,
adjacent to the Pharusii. (Plin. V. 1: Oros. i. 2: Leo Afr. P. 602.)
The Draa (Arabic: ???) (also spelled Dra or Dra, in older sources mostly
Darha or Dara) is Moroccos longest river (1100 km). The inhabitants of the
Draa are called Draawa (an exonym), the most famous Draawi undoubtedly
being mawlay Mohammed ash-Sheikh. Outside of the Draa region this name
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is mostly used to refer to the dark skinned people of Draa which make up the
largest portion of its inhabitants. Retrieved May 13th 2008 from
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Draa-river
Descriptions of the Masmuda, Sanhaja, Ketama, Zenata Berbers of coastal
North Africa and the Upper Atlas
Most Arab-speaking historians beginning as far back as the 8th century when
Wah ibn Munabihh a South Arabian and descendant of an Iranian mercenary
claimed the Berbers belonged to black races of Ham. Several Muslim writers
claimed the Berbers were the sons of Berr who were said to descend from
Mazigh ibn (son of ) Canaan Ibn Ham Ibn Nuh (Noah). The tradition found
cited in Nafousa: Berber Community in Western Libya, Omar Sahli citing
Dabbuz. Retrieved on-line from http://www.tawalt.com/monthly/fessato_1.pdf
, July. 12, 2008.
The Zenata are called a Canaanite race by other Muslim writers see The
Berbers Geo. Babington Michell, Journal of the Royal African Society, Vol. 2,
No. 6 (Jan., 1903), pp. 161-194. The traditions state that in fact Berbers were
descendants of Amalekites (Amalek) from Canaan and Himyarite from Yemen
both descendants of Adites that had invaded Egypt before 1200 B.C. and
advanced toward the Maghreb.
The Berbers as represented by the Tuareg especially appear to have called
themselves Mashek or Mazigh who are associated with bringing the camel
into Africa. Mashek is still the name of a tribe of the Mahra of Oman and
Hadramaut who also claim an origin in the Yemen.
( In early Arabian tradition the lowland of Canaan or the Kenaniyya tribe was
in an area of the western region of Arabia north of Yemen and not farther to
the north in modern Palestine or Israel. See the Bible Came from Arabia.
Kamal Salibi )
11th century The Berber women are from the island of Barbara, which is
between the west and the south. Their color is mostly black though some
pale ones can be found among them. If you can find one whose mother is of
Kutama, whose father is of Sanhaja, and whose origin is Masmuda, then you
will find her naturally inclined to obedience and loyalty in all matters, active
in service, suited both to motherhood and to pleasure, for they are the most
solicitous in caring for their children. 11th century the Christian Iraqi
physician Ibn Butlan quoted by historian Bernard Lewis.
11th century Nasr i Khusrau, an Iranian ruler described the Masmuda
soldiers of the Fatimid dynasty as black Africans. See Yaacov Lev, Army,
Regime and Society in Fatimid Egypt, 358-487/968-1094, International
Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 19.3 (1987) p. 342.
13th century Primary Cronica General of Alphonso X of Spain describes the
300 Almoravid Amazon women whose leader is described as black and
Moorish. They were led by their leader Nugaymath al-Tarqiyya (the star of
the Tuareg archers in Arabic) who led the Almoravid siege of Valencia; cited
in Nubian Queens in the Nile Valley by Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Ninth
International Conference of Nubian Studies, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
USA. See also The Berbers in Arab Literature by H.T. Norris 1982.p. 20.
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Harvey , L.P. Nugaymath Turquia, Primera Cronica General, Chapter 956

Journal of Semitic Studies 13, no. 2:232. Targiyyat or Targiya is a variant form
or pronunciation in North Africa for the name Tuareg. 13th or 14th century
Abu Shama, a Syrian, described the Masmuda Berbers as blacks in his,
Kitab al-Ravdatayn. Found in Golden Age of the Moor, 1991 edition p. 57,
edited by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima.
14th The Almoravid or Al Murabitun dynasty coming from the Atlas was one
of the last dynasties coming from Africa to rule in the Iberian peninsula. One
of the 11th century rulers of Andalusia and North Africa was Yusuf Tachfin
who had come from a long line of miltary rulers. According to Roudh elKartas (History of the Rulers of Morocco) by Abd Allah, and A.Beaumiers
French translation of the 14th century work, Yusuf was of brown color, of
middle height with , thin, little beard, soft voice and woolly hair. The
Almoravid dynasty was supposedly composed mainly of Sanhaja clans of
Massufa, Joddala (Gaetuli) and Lamtuna (or Auelimidden Tuareg)- the
Auelamidden have since moved southward and live in Niger.
http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-appearance-ofthe-original-berbers-according-to-european-perceptions-by-dana-marniche/