Maghrebis or Maghrebians (Arabic: المغاربيون) are the inhabitants of the Maghreb region of North Africa.[13] It is a modern Arabic term meaning "Westerners", denoting their location in the western part of the Arab world. Maghrebis are predominantly of Arab and Berber origins.
Name
Maghrebis were known in ancient and medieval times as the Roman Africans or Moors. The word Moor is of Phoenician origin.[14] The etymology of the word can be traced back to the Phoenician term Mahurin, meaning "Westerners", from which the ancient Greeks derive Mauro, and from which Latin derives Mauri.[15]
Historic records of religion in the Maghreb region show its gradual inclusion in the Classical World, with coastal colonies established first by Phoenicians, Greeks, and later extensive conquest and rule by the Romans. By the 2nd century common era, the area had become a centre of Latin-speaking Christianity. Both Roman settlers and Romanized Berbers converted to Christianity. The region produced figures such as Christian Church writer Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 202); and Christian Church martyrs or leading figures such as St Cyprian of Carthage (c. 210 – 258); Saint Monica; her son the philosopher Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430); and Julia of Corsica (5th century). The region was a birthplace of many Christians movements like Arianism and Donatism, now cast-off.[citation needed]
The domination of Christianity ended when Arab invasions brought Islam in 647. Carthage fell in 698 and the remainder of the region followed in subsequent decades. Gradual Islamization proceeded, although surviving letters showed correspondence from regional Christians to Rome up until the 9th century. Christianity was still a living faith. Christian bishoprics and dioceses continued to be active, with relations continuing with Rome. As late as Pope Benedict VII (974-983) reign, a new Archbishop of Carthage was consecrated. Evidence of Christianity in the region then faded through the 10th century.[18]
During the seventh century, the region's peoples began their nearly total conversion to Islam. There was a small but thriving Local Jewish community, as well as a small Local Christian community. Most Muslims follow the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. Small Ibadi communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating marabouts and saints' tombs is found throughout regions inhabited by Berbers. Any map of the region demonstrates the tradition by the proliferation of "sidi"s, showing places named after the marabouts. Like some other religious traditions, this has substantially decreased over the 20th century. A network of zawiyas traditionally helped proliferate basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.
According to Michel Tribalat, a researcher at INED, there were more than 4.6 million people of Maghrebi origin (with at least one Maghrebi grandparent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia) living in France in 2011 (3 million in 1999).[24][25] Below is a table of population of Maghrebi origin in France in 2011, numbers are in thousands:
Country of origin (2011)
Immigrants
1st generation born in France
2nd generation born in France (aged under 60 only)
Total
Algeria
737
1 170
563
2 470
Morocco
679
698
130
1 507
Tunisia
246
280
129
655
Total Maghreb
1 662
2 148
821
4 631
Note: for second generation born in France only individuals under 60 are taken into account.
According to Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies), 16% of newborns in France between 2006 and 2008 have at least one Maghrebi grandparent born in the Greater Maghreb.[26]
According to other sources between 5 and 8 million people of Maghrebin origin live in France, and between 150,000 and 300,000 people of Maghrebin origin live in Canada.[29][30]
^CIA World Factbook. "Libya". Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
^"Estimé à six millions d'individus, l'histoire de leur enracinement, processus toujours en devenir, suscite la mise en avant de nombreuses problématiques...", « Être Maghrébins en France » in Les Cahiers de l'Orient, n° 71, troisième trimestre 2003
^Maghreb people represent 45% of people born in Arab countries who emigrated to Europe and N.America, they are 41% of the all Immigrants in Europe
^"The Arab world". AMBergh Education. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019. The North African part of the Arab World to the west of Egypt and Sudan is known as the Maghreb (gharb meaning west).
^Michèle Tribalat, « Une estimation des populations d'origine étrangère en France en 2011 », Espace populations sociétés, 2015/1-2, en ligneArchived 12 February 2017 at Wikiwix