Bled es-Siba
Bled es-Siba or Bled Siba, is a historical term that emerged in French colonial literature that refers to a lawless area in pre-colonial Moroccan history that was out of the control of the Moroccan Sultans.
Etymology
Bled es-Siba literally means "land of dissidence" or "region of anarchy", as opposed to Bled el-Makhzen, which refers to the region under the control of the Makhzen governing institution. The term Bled es-Siba probably first appeared in an eleventh-century commentary on Maliki law by Abu Imran al-Fasi. Onwards, it was used from the eleventh-century in al-Andalus and the Maghreb to refer to backwards rural areas living in a state of jahiliyyah.Sība is a colloquial Arabic word meaning "rebellion", "insolence" or "stateless". It comes from the classical Arabic term sā'iba meaning "a free, untethered camel" and the first known pre-Islamic instance of the word sība refers “to a camel set aside from the herd, left to fend for itself, as a form of sacrifice.” It comes from the Arabic root sby. In the Maghreb, it is synonymous with the classical term fitna.
Historical background
Morocco has been ruled by the Alaouite dynasty since the 17th century. Many Berber tribes were however, not submissive to the Sultan, which led to two different regions: Bled es-Siba and Bled el-Makhzen.Historiography
The distinction between Bled es-Siba and Bled el-Makhzen emerged in French historiography and ethnography This distinction was important to how the French portrayed their mission in Morocco and functioned as the basis for French policies in colonial Morocco. It was first developed by French army officer and author Maurice Le Glay. Historian Edmund Burke III summarising this policy said:The dominant view regarding Bled es-Siba that was held by colonial scholarship was challenged by later scholars of decolonisation like Abdallah Laroui.