Jebala people

Jbala

Map of Jbala's land in Northern Morocco
Total population
(approximately 1 million)
Regions with significant populations
Northern Morocco, mostly concentrated in the North-West Morocco and Rif Mountains
Languages
Jbala Arabic
Religion
Muslim
Related ethnic groups
Arabs, Andalucians, Sicilians

The Jebala (Moroccan Arabic: جْبالة, Jbala; Berber: Ijebliyen) is a group of Berber mountain people and farmers, who live in northwestern Morocco. The Jebala people inhabit the plains from the city of Targuist to the west, in contrast with the Riff people inhabiting the plains from Targuist to the east. Northwestern Morocco includes cities such as Tanger (Tingis), Tetouan, Chefchaouen (Ashawen), and Asilah (Aẓila).

The word Jbala comes from Moroccan Arabic word "jbel" which means mountain. Thus Jbala means mountain people. A man or boy is called a Jebli while a woman or a girl is called a Jebliya.

The Jebala are mostly ethnic Berbers. The Jebala historically used to speak Berber and gradually switched to speaking an Arabic non-hilalian dialect, influenced by the Berber language and the Andalucian languages of Al-Andalus and the fact that their land lies on the route between these places. The Jebala people should not be confused with the Berbers inhabiting Riffian of Atlas people. They are different from them based on history, ethnicity and linguistically(what is the source of this claim?) The inhabitants of the North are divided in two broad traditional ethnolinguistic categories, the Arabic-speaking jebala in the west which trace their maleline to dynasties. In the East you have the Tarifit-speaking Riffians, with the dividing line and watershed in Targuist. Before the arrival of the Arabian Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes in the 12th century, the Jebala country was the only rural region where non-bedouinic Arabic was spoken, and it still remains the only significant rural region where a non-bedouin Arabic dialect is spoken. Most of the Jebala people are centered in North-West Morocco and the Southern Riff Mountains (Fes-Meknes district), compared to the Berbers which are most centered in the Central and Eastern regions of the Riff Mountains. Next to the Jebala people, the area is also inhabited by Sephardi Jews and native jews. Since they were not accepted in the other regions in the mountains, these classes were only found in the arab tribal lands of the plains to the North-West of the Mountains. Some jewish people today still live in cities like Tanger and Chefchaouen.