Berber is a name that has been given to them by others and they do not refer to themselves as Berbers. Berber is a generic name given to numerous heterogeneous ethnic groups that share similar cultural, political, and economic practices. Berber people call themselves "Amazigh- or "free and noble men-. Amazigh history in North Africa is extensive and diverse .The origins of the Berbers are uncertain, although many theories have been advanced relating them to the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the Celts, the Basques, and the Caucasians. Berbers are the original peoples of North Africa. They inhabit the lands lying between the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea and between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean. The Berbers form a substantial part of the populations of Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania. The Berbers are small farmers that live under a loose ethnic organization in independent villages. They have developed local industries such as iron, copper, lead, and pottery. The Berbers are Sunni Muslims and their native languages are under Hamito-Semitic languages, but most literate Berbers also speak French, Spanish, English, and Arabic, which is the language of their religion. Despite a history of conquests, the Berbers have retained a remarkably homogeneous culture.
Education and Religion: Until their conquest in the 7th century by Muslim Arabs, most of the Berbers were Christian (also, a sizable minority had accepted Judaism), and many heresies of the early African church, particularly Donatism, were essentially Berber protests against the rule of Rome. Under the Arabs, the Berbers became Islamized and soon formed the backbone of the Arab armies that conquered Spain. However, the Berbers repeatedly rose against the Arabs, and in the 9th century they supported the Fatimid dynasty in its conquest of N. Africa. Although they accepted Islam as a new religion, the Berber also maintained their pre-Islamic cultural and ritual traditions.
