Kabyles, Chleuhs, Rifains — The different Amazigh peoples

The question often comes up: "Are you Berber or Kabyle?" As if it were one or the other. It's not one or the other. I am Berber — and more specifically Chleuh, from Souss-Massa. Just as a Kabyle is Berber, and a Rifian is Berber. That's how it works.

Amazigh — the common name

All these peoples — Kabyles, Chleuhs, Rifians, Tuareg, Chaouis, Mozabites — are Imazighen. The word "Berber" is the name given from outside. Amazigh is the name they give themselves: free people.

What unites them: a common origin, a shared cultural background, the same patterns on carpets and jewelry, the same calendar (Yennayer), and the yaz ⵣ — the only symbol that spans all groups, all languages, all borders.

What distinguishes them: language and geography.

The Kabyles — Algeria, Kabylia

The Kabyles are the Imazighen of the Kabylia region, in Algeria — between Algiers and Béjaïa, in the Djurdjura mountains.

They speak Taqbaylit (Kabyle). They are the most well-known Amazigh group in France, due to a strong diaspora presence since the 1950s-60s.

Kabylia is also the birthplace of the most visible Amazigh cultural movement: it was there that the struggles for language recognition were most intense, notably during the Berber Spring of 1980.

The Chleuhs — Morocco, Souss-Massa

The Chleuhs (or Shluh) are the Imazighen of southwestern Morocco: Souss-Massa, Anti-Atlas, Western High Atlas.

They speak Tashelhit — the language of my grandfather, of my weaver grandmother, of the villages of Taznaght, Tiznit, Taroudant.

They are the most numerous Amazigh group in Morocco. Their culture is deeply marked by the desert, nomadism, weaving, and the silver jewelry of Tiznit.

I am Chleuh, from Souss-Massa. That's where this brand comes from — and the story of my grandparents that I tell here.

The Rifians — Morocco, North

The Rifians are the Imazighen of the Rif, the mountain range in northern Morocco — from Tetouan to Nador, via Al Hoceima.

They speak Tarifit. Culturally distinct from the Chleuhs, they nevertheless share the same fundamental Amazigh symbols — the same patterns, the same calendar, the same yaz.

Other Amazigh peoples

People	Region	Language
Chaouis	Aurès, Algeria	Chaoui (Tachawit)
Mozabites	Ghardaïa, Algeria	Tumzabt
Tuareg	Sahara — Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya	Tamasheq
Amazighs of the Middle Atlas	Central Morocco	Central Tamazight
Rifians	Rif, Morocco	Tarifit
Chleuhs	Souss-Massa, Morocco	Tashelhit
Kabyles	Kabylia, Algeria	Taqbaylit

The Tuareg have preserved the Tifinagh alphabet in its closest form to the ancient original — transmitted orally and gesturally in the Sahara for centuries.

What unites

Despite the different languages and the thousands of kilometers separating a Tuareg from Mali from a Kabyle from Tizi-Ouzou, there is something unmistakable: the patterns.

The lozenges on a Kabyle rug and the lozenges on a Souss-Massa rug resemble each other. The silver fibulae from Kabylia and those from Tiznit share the same geometry. The yaz ⵣ is the same everywhere.

It is this common symbol — the free man, standing, arms open — that can be found on the brand's cap, high-neck t-shirt or shoulder bag. Not because it's trendy. Because it's the only sign that simply says: I am Amazigh.

→ To understand all Amazigh symbols: The 20 Berber symbols and their meaning.