Zwawa

The Igawawen or Gawawa (masculine singular: Agawaw, alternatively: Agawa; Berber: ⵉⴳⴰⵡⴰⵡⵏ) were a confederation of Kabyle Berber tribes in Algeria. The Arabs called them Zwāwa (Arabic: زواوة, also written Zouaoua from French transliteration; the masculine singular is زواوي, i.e. Zwāwi/Zouaoui). The Arabic term Zwāwa had been previously used to refer to Kabyle fighters rather than the Igawawen in particular, and it is unclear if the original meaning of the term was ethnic.

The tribes which made up the confederation inhabit the highland areas of Kabylia, from Djurdjura to the sea, which is the area of Tizi Ouzou Province and parts of Bouira Province and Boumerdès Province. In French this area is called Grande Kabylie to distinguish it from the other parts of Kabylia.

The Arabic term Zwāwa appears to be of Berber origin, but its original meaning is unclear. It may or may not be an Arab version of the Berber word Gawawa, an alternative form of Igawawen. Zwāwa is in fact used in an early case as a (singular) name: the historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) referred to a Berber chief he calls Zwāwa Ibn Na'm al-Halfa leading a Berber contingent in the Muslim conquest of Sicily (827-902). However Ibn Khaldun was born over four centuries after the events he was describing and there may be some confusion.

In early Arabic sources, the term Zwāwa is used to refer to Kabyle fighters rather than the Igawawen in particular. While the meaning always indicates Berbers, it is unclear if the original meaning was one ethnic group in itself, or had some other ethnic-social implication such as "Berber warriors", "Kabyle men", "Kabyle bandits", etc.

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