Ait Touzine (Variant forms Beni Touzine, Ayt Tuzin and Beni Tuzin p. 36.) is one of the biggest Riffian tribes from the central

Rif The Rif (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people ...

region in Morocco.

History

13th century

In the early 13th century, the

Zenata The Zenata (; ) are a group of Berber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic. Society The 14th-century historiographer Ibn Khaldun repo ...

Amazigh Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their u ...

Marinids entered the Rif and there they defeated the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

in a great battle in 1216. According to

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...

, the

Marinid The Marinid dynasty ( ) was a Berber Muslim dynasty that controlled present-day Morocco from the mid-13th to the 15th century and intermittently controlled other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula ...

leader Abd al-Haqq I married a woman of the Tafersit tribe, but according to

Luis del Marmol Carvajal Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

she was of the Ait Touzine tribe. This Riffian woman became the mother of the

sultan

Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq () (c. 1212 – 20 March 1286) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Ha ...

. The Ait Touzine were related to the

rulers of Fes and did not have to pay taxes or tribute.

16th century

Leo Africanus Johannes Leo Africanus (born al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī al-Fasī, ; – ) was an Andalusi diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later publish ...

mentions in his book "Description of North Africa" (1526) that the Ait Touzine was a fairly prosperous area, where the inhabitants worked their land in complete freedom. Furthermore, one of the king's counselors was a learned man from Ait Touzin. According to

the Ait Touzine are of

origin.

20th century

The Ait Touzine tribesmen played an important role during the

Rif War The Rif War (, , ) was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at first inflicted several ...

in the 1920s. They fought together with tribes such as

Ait Ouriaghel The Ait Waryaghar or Ait Ouriaghel (Berber languages, Berber: ⴰⵢⵜ ⵡⴰⵔⵢⴰⵖⴻⵔ) is one of the biggest Riffians, Riffian tribes of the Rif region of the north-eastern part of Morocco and one of the most populous. Ait Waryagher mea ...

led by the Riffian resistance fighter Abd el-Krim and tribes such as Ait Oulichek to fight against the Spanish Invaders. The members of the Ait Touzine tribe went together to Dhar Obaran where they encountered the Riffians of the other tribes: the Ibeqoyen and the

(these two tribes had at the time formed an alliance with the Ait Touzine). This became an important highlight in the Riffian resistance against the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

, namely the battle of Dhar Obaran. Here the

were crushed in spectacular fashion. The efforts of all these men had a major influence on the emergence of the Rif Republic. After this great victory of the trio Ait Touzine-Ibeqoyen-Ait Ouriaghel, all the other tribes of the Rif region decided to support the resistance. The tribes gained confidence in the resistance. The number of volunteers kept growing. By all these volunteers from all other tribes, a Riffian unity arose. This united group of Riffians, centered on

and Ait Touzine, once again surprisingly defeated the

in the

Battle of Annual The Battle of Annual was fought on 22 July 1921 at Annual, Morocco, Annual, in northeastern Morocco, between the Spanish Army and Rifians, Rifian Berbers during the Rif War. The Spanish suffered a major military defeat, which is almost always ref ...

50 days after the Battle of Dhar Obaran. This battle is better known to the

as el desastre de Annual. After the Battle of Annual, the Rif Republic was proclaimed through the efforts of all united Riffians. Nowadays a large number of the Ait Touzine are living in Europe as a result of the migration in the 1970s. Most of them moved to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Sub tribes

The Ait Touzine tribe can be divided into five sub-tribes. •Igharbiyen (Iferni and

Midar Midar (Arabic: ميضار) is a municipality in Driouch Province, Oriental, Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and ...

and surroundings) •Ait Akki (from the Nekkur valley to the Ighzar Amekrane). •Ait Beräiez (Ijjarmaouas and Iwardijen) •Ait Tseft (From the Ighzar Nekkur to Kassita) •Ait Taaban (Surroundings of Tleta n Azlaf)

Geography

The territory of the Ait Touzine tribe extends from the Nekour River near

Al Hoceima Al Hoceima () is a city in the north of Morocco, on the northern edge of the Rif Mountains and on the Mediterranean coast. It is the capital city of the Al Hoceima Province. The city is a known tourist destination despite its small size. It has ...

to Driouch and from Temsamane to the Gzenaya tribe. Beni Touzine is also the name of a ''caïdat'' in the ''cercle'' of Rif in

Driouch Province Driouch Province () is a province in Morocco that was formed in 2009 by dividing the Nador Province into two parts, all falling under the Oriental (Morocco), Oriental administrative region of northeastern Morocco. The province of Driouch has a po ...

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

References

Berber peoples and tribes Populated places in Driouch Province {{OrientalMA-geo-stub