Chenouas

Chenouis

Total population
106,000
Regions with significant populations
Mount Chenoua, Algeria
Languages
Chenoua and Algerian Arabic
Religion
Sunni islam

Map of Chenoui areas

The Chenouis or Chenoua (Arabic: شناوة, Berber: Icenwiyen) are a Berber ethnic group native to the Chenoua Mountains in northern Algeria. They traditionally inhabit areas between the east of Ténès to the west of Cherchell. The Chenoui people number about 106,000.^{[citation needed]} They speak the Shenwa language, a Northern Berber language that is closely related to the Shawiya language and Zenata varieties spoken by Berbers of the Aures mountains in Eastern Algeria and the Rif region. The Shenwa language has about 76,000 speakers.^[1]

Geographical distribution

View of Mount Chenoua.

The Chenoui traditional territory includes the province of Tipaza, parts of the Chlef province and the north of the province of Ain Defla, and thus are called in reference to the Mount Chenoua which dominates the city of Tipaza, 70 km west of Algiers.

The region is part of the greater Dahra region, a long mountainous region along the Meditternean coasts, separated from the Ouarsenis range by the Chelif river and its valley. It expands from 8 km north of Mostaganem until the Algiers Sahel with its highest point being Mount Zaccar (Miliana).

The Chenoua Mount region, highest point of the Algiers Sahel, is the most eastern part of the Chenoui speaking region going from Fouka (42 km west of Algiers) until Tenès (200 km west of Algiers) or even heading further west till Ouled Boughalem in the past. Some people call them the Chelhas of the Tell or even Kabyles of the west.

References

1. "Shenwa". Ethnologue. 2015.