Many are forced to leave their home and risk their lives on fishing boats crossing over to Europe, becoming nomads by necessity.
From time to time, behind the heat devoured by the light, we wee Bedouins wandering over the dunes surrounded by brown tents with their herds in the middle.
The Sahara is a conglomerate of nomadic peoples: Tuaregs, Berbers, Saharawis and Nawjas, tirelessly wandering through these arid lands. Since time immemorial, generation after generation, the survival of those who travel taking all their possessions with them has been a hymn to the endeavour and the triumph of men who, having found fire, still live in search of water.
Further south, we reach Merzouga, where the Nawja nomads live. Algiers is 30 km away, but the land is mined. A sordid, cruel conflict lies beyond the dunes.
Tindouf. The Saharawi refugee camp. A desolate, Dantesque place, like all refugee camps. The nomads, banished, are forced to live here. It is the desert in its crudest state. There are no beautiful sand dunes, only rocks, wasteland and desperation.
Berbers.
Isolated on Morocco’s High Atlas, the Berbers who live in the mountains are proud of having maintained their own language and traditional culture.
For a long time, the Berbers were nomadic tribes and some groups still wander through the mountains, but most gradually settled down.
The word “berber” comes from the Latin “barbarus”. The pejorative meaning of the term “berber” has led some to use their own word, “amazigh” (free man).
Their economy is mainly based on livestock and agriculture. They rely on transhumance and make carpets and tapestries which they sell at regular markets and regional festivals.
Berbereak.
Marokoko Atlas Handia mendikatean isolaturik, mendian bizi diren berbereak beraien hizkuntza eta kultura tradizionala mantendu dituztelako harro daude.
Berbereak tribu nomadak izan ziren denbora luzez, baina, egun, mendiko talderen batek nomada izaten jarraitzen badu ere, gehienak gutxi eta gutxi sedentario bihurtu dira.
“Berbere” hitza latineko “barbarus” hitzaren eratorritakoa da. “Berbere” terminoak duen mesprezu kutsua dela eta, pertsona batzuk nahiago dute bertakoen terminoa erabili: “amazigh” (gizon askea).
Beraien ekonomia artzaintzan eta nekazaritzan oinarritzen da batez ere, transhumanteak izan ohi dira, eta aldizkako merkatuetan eta eskualdeetako jaietan saltzen jartzen dituzten alfonbra eta tapizak egiten dituzte.
