Zaghawa people

Zaghawa / Beri people

Idriss Deby, President of Chad is from the Zaghawa ethnic group
Total population
~400,000
Regions with significant populations
Chad	271,000
Sudan	145,000
Libya	10,000
Languages
Beria
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Toubou people, Bideyat people

The Zaghawa people, also called Beri or Zakhawa, are a Central African Muslim ethnic group of eastern Chad and western Sudan, including Darfur.

Zaghawas speak the Zaghawa language, which is an eastern Saharan language. They are pastoralists, and a breed of sheep that they herd is called Zaghawa by the Arabs. They are semi-nomadic and obtain much of their livelihood through herding cattle, camels and sheep and harvesting wild grains. It has been estimated that there are between 225,000 and 400,000 Zaghawa.

The Kanemite royal history, the Girgam, refers to the Zaghawa people as the Duguwa. Today, Zaghawa refer to themselves as the Beri, while the Arab people and literature refers to them as "Zaghawa". In literature related to African ethnic groups, the term Beri (sometimes Kegi) includes Zaghawas, Bideyat and Bertis peoples, each clustered in different parts of Chad, Sudan and Libya.

The Zaghawa are mentioned in classical Arabic language texts. The 9th century Arab geographer al-Ya'qubi, wrote of them as the “Zaghawa who live in a place called Kanem,” and proceeded to list a string of other kingdoms under Zaghawa rule. Historically, the Zaghawa people held a sort of hegemony over most of the smaller societies that stretched along the Sahel between Lake Chad to the Nile valley kingdoms of Nubia, Makuria and Alwa.

The Zaghawa people were trading with the Nile region and the Maghreb regions by the 1st millennium CE. The earliest references to them in 8th century texts are made jointly with the Toubou people of northern Chad and southern Libya, and scholars believe the two are related ethnic groups. The 11th century texts mention that the kings of the Zaghawa kingdom had accepted Islam, and were at least nominally Muslims. Al Ya'qubi mentioned that the Berbers of north were trading in slaves drawn from the Zaghawa ethnic group and others.