Berbers or Amazighs are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa
primarily inhabiting the Maghreb. They are distributed in an area
stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt and
from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River in West Africa.
Historically they spoke Berber languages which together form the
Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. Since the Muslim conquest
of North Africa in the seventh century a large number of Berbers
inhabiting the Maghreb (Tamazgha) have in varying degrees used as
lingua franca the other languages spoken in North Africa. After the
colonization of North Africa by France "the French government
succeeded in integrating the French language in Algeria by making
French the official national language and requiring all education
to take place in French." Foreign languages mainly French and to
some degree Spanish inherited from former European colonial powers
are used by most educated Berbers in Algeria and Morocco in some
formal contexts such as higher education or business.
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