The Berbers, or Berber, has a number of meanings, including a language, a culture, a location and a group of people: most prominently it is the collective term used for dozens of tribes of pastoralists, indigenous people who herd sheep and goats and live in northwest Africa today. Despite this simple description, Berber ancient history is truly complex.

Who are the Berbers?

In general, modern scholars believe that the Berber people are descendants of the original colonizers of North Africa.

Berber lifeways were established at least 10,000 years ago as Neolithic Caspians. Continuities in material culture suggest that the people living along the coasts of the Maghreb 10,000 years ago simply added domestic sheep and goat in when they became available, so the odds are theyve been living in northwest Africa for much longer.

Modern Berber social structure is tribal, with male leaders over groups practicing sedentary agriculture. They are also fiercely successful traders and were the first to open the commercial routes between Western Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, at locations such as Essouk-Tadmakka in Mali.

The ancient history of the Berbers is by no means as tidy.

The earliest historical references to people known as Berbers are from Greek and Roman sources. The unnamed first century AD sailor/adventurer who wrote the Periplus of the Erythrian Sea describes a region called Barbaria, located south of the city of Berekike on the Red Sea coast of east Africa.

The first century AD Roman geographer Ptolemy (90-168 AD) also knew of the Barbarians, located on the Barbarian bay, which led to the city of Rhapta, their main city.

Arabic sources for the Barbar include the sixth-century poet Imru al-Qays, who mentions horse-riding Barbars in one of his poems; and Adi bin Zayd (d.

587) who mentions the Barbar in the same line with the eastern African state of Axum (al-Yasum). The 9th-century Arabic historian Ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 871) mentions a Barbar market in al-Fustat.

Today, of course, Berbers are associated