Kabylie - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

The Kabylie is a mountainous region of the north of the Algérie surrounded by the sea and plains.

Its inhabitants call it Tamurt N Leqbayel (“ground of Kabyles”). The country of the mountains represents the Western Djurdjura that the old ones called Has Wadda (“Those of in-low”) and Eastern Djurdjura that they called Has Oufella (“Those of in-high”).

Kabylie has a coast which extends on several hundreds from kilometers. It belongs to the Atlas and is thus located in edge of the the Mediterranean which provides him what one calls “the cornice kabyle”, located between Béjaïa and Jijel, in what was called during the colonial period “Small Kabylie”. For the historian Ibn Khaldoun, it represents the portion of the territory which was called the province of Béjaïa; what old the kabyles called Tamawya taqbaylit (or Tamawya ), “kabyle federation”.

Geography

Kabylie covers several districts or wilayas of Algeria: Tizi Ouzou and Béjaïa ( Bgayet , in the past Candle), the major part of Bouira ( Tubirets ) and Bordj Bou Arreridj, and part of the wilayas of Sétif, Boumerdes, Jijel and of Me Sila ( Tamsilt ). Following the insurrection of 1871, colonial France decided to divide this province into two: the Large and the Small Kabylie, also called High and Low Kabylie.

These two Kabylies belonged to old the Département of Algiers for the Large one and of the Département of Constantine for the Petite Kabylie. Béjaïa, the antique Saldae, capital of small Kabylie, is described by historians such as Charles-Andre Julien or Ibn Khaldoun. Kabyles call it “Bgayet N Lejdud” (“Candle of the Ancestors”). Tizi-Ouzou, the capital of Large called “the village formerly”, exists since the colonial time.

Large or High Kabylie, goes from Thenia until Tigzirt. It represented the territory located at the north of Djurdjura. A small portion of the old province of Candle, Small or Low Kabylie, extended from Bouira by including Eastern Djurdjura, Akfadou to Bougie and extended from west in is, and of the Mediterranean while passing by the valley of the Soummam of north in the south, that is to say more than 500 km. It included/understood thus the confederations of the Bibans and that of the Babors until Collo.

Three large mountainous solid masses occupy most of the area:

In North, the chain of maritime Kabylie, culminating with the Has Djennad (mount Tamgout 1278 m)
In the South, the Djurdjura, dominating the valley of Soummam, culminating with the Lalla-Khadîdja (mount Tamgout Aâlayen 2308 m)
Between the two, the solid mass Agawa, densément populated, with 800 m of average altitude. It is where is more the big city of Large Kabylie, Tizi Ouzou. Larbaâ Nath Irathen (in the past “Extremely-National”), which counts 28 000 inhabitants in 2001, is the mountainous urban center highest of the area.

Population and language

Religion

The Kabyles are mainly Moslem, but one counts also a considerable number of Irréligieux and Chrétiens. Historically, Kabylie knew the whole of the religions of the Mediterranean basin, having even contributed, like integral part of the Berber world, with the supply of some gods and goddesses with the Greeks and the Romans (see Berber Mythologie ), such as Antée. Initially devoted to the spirits and the Animisme, of which there remain traces to date, they discovered the religions Monothéiste S, of the religions which were easily and quickly anchored in the life of Kabyles.

After the Christianity, the Islam settled in its turn and was even written a history in this area, in particular with the reign of the dynasty Hammadide which, since Béjaïa its capital, radiated on Algeria and the Western Basin of the the Mediterranean at the 11th century and 12th century. Practitioner a " Islam" sometimes influenced by the maraboutisme and the Sufism (with the image of the brotherhood Rahmaniya), the syncretisms were and remain however numerous (invocation of Anzar, the god of the rain at the time of the great drynesses; sign cross of the women before langer an infant, etc…), confirming its specificity with “Islam kabyle” ^,. Fatimides had less interest for the Maghreb after the Egyptian conquest. They left it under control of the Zirides.

The Hammadides, connects of Zirides, which had declared their independence, controlled the central Maghreb, while Zirides reigned on the Ifriqiya. Their reign influenced the life of Kabylie and Algeria, by renovating Béjaïa (capital city after the abandonment of the Kalâa of Béni Hammad) or Algiers. After the fall of Hammadides, the area of Kabylie changed hand on several occasions (Almohades, Hafsides…).

Later, at the time of the Turks, Kabylie constituted two States recognized for their power (diplomatic representations in Spain in particular): the Kingdom of Koukou into High Kabylie founded by Ahmed Belkadi and the Kingdom of Ath Abbas into Low Kabylie. Kabylie took thus, even after the fall of these kingdoms, a relative administrative autonomy compared to the remainder of the regency of Algiers.

French conquest

The area gradually passes under French domination starting from 1857 and is raised periodically, in particular in 1870 ( “Révolte of Mokrani” ). French repression shows many arrests, deportations, in particular in New Caledonia (see Kabyles of the Pacific). Colonization also results in an acceleration of the emigration into other areas of the country and the foreigner.

France, through the “Arab Offices”, also proceeds to the Arabisation of family names and places in Kabylie. Thus Iwadiyen becomes Ouadhias, At Zmenzer becomes Beni Zmenzer or At Yahia in Ould Yahia. This action of depersonalization becomes systematic after the revolt of 1871. Lastly, the teaching of the French to the certificate of studies was rather current in Kabylie whereas everywhere else, it was the scholastic Koranic one, in Arab arts person, who was favoured.

During the war of independence, Kabylie, heart of resistance against French colonialism, then wilaya III, is the most touched area, with that of the Aurès, because of importance of the maquis and the repression and the implication of its inhabitants. FLN recruited there several of its historical leaders among whom Abane Ramdane and Krim Belkacem or Hocine Has Ahmed.

Independence of Algeria

The area was opposed to Algiers on several occasions, initially in 1963: the Front of the Socialist forces of Hocine Has Ahmed and of Yaha Abdelhafid disputes the authority of the Sole party. In 1980, Kabylie knows several months of demonstrations claiming the officialization of the Berber Langue, called Berber Printemps circumscribes in Kabylie and the university of Algiers. This cultural alarm clock intensifies at the time of the hardening of the Arabisation in Algeria in the Nineties. In 1994-1995, the school year is the subject of a boycott called “strike of the portfolio”. In June and July 1998, the area blazes up again after the assassination of the singer Matoub Lounès and at the time of the coming into effect of a law generalizing the use of the Arab language in all the fields. Lastly, the assistance brought by the Kabyle diaspora constitutes one of the independent factors which instigate the Kabyles areas, in particular thanks to the contribution of the currencies and the actions of solidarity of associations. The assistances brought by the immigrants of the diaspora support the development of the infrastructures (road, transport, libraries…) who are forsaken by the Algerian state. However, the appropriations thus brought and managed by the assembly of the villages accentuate the autonomy of the villages kabyles. The development of tourism enables him to foresee a future on this crenel: until the Nineties, Kabylie was called small Switzerland.

Appendix

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