Igawawen


Igawawen or Gawawa, mostly known as Zwawa were a group of Kabyle tribes inhabiting the Djurdjura mountains, Greater Kabylia, in Algeria. The Zouaoua are a branch of the Kutama tribe of the Baranis Berbers.
In the most restricted sense, the Igawawen were a confederation of 8 tribes split into two groups:
"Zwawa" was the Arabic name of medieval Muslim historians for the tribes who inhabited the region between Bejaia and Dellys. Some say that it's a deformation of the word "Igawawen", which was the name of a Kabyle confederation made up of eight tribes organized into two groups: the Ait Betrun, and the Ait Mengellet, and used as pars pro toto by the Kabyles of Lesser Kabylia to refer to Greater Kabylia. They were named after the mountain they occupy, the Agawa mountain, the most densely populated, in the north of Djurdjura.
Kabyles do not refer to themselves in their language as Zwawa, and is no longer used in Algerian Arabic either, except in western Algeria, where Kabyles are still called Zwawa.
Zwawa was also a personal name. In the 9th century, one of the chiefs of the Huwwara Berber tribe, who took part in the Muslim conquest of Sicily, was called Zwawa ibn Neam al-Half, who assisted in the triumph of the Muslim armies against the Byzantines.
Ibn Hawqal in the 10th century, was the first Muslim traveler and geographer to mention the name in his book, ZwawaKitab al-Masâlik wa l-Mamâlik,' but without giving substantial information about them.
, a 19th-century French general, thought that the word Zwawa might be an alteration of "Ath Wawa", the regular plural of Agawa, used to designate a man from the Igawawen, by replacing the Kabyle "th" with "z".'
During the time of the Regency of Algiers, the Kabyles were considered such excellent infantrymen that the name "Zwawi" became synonymous with "infantryman". The various factions of the Titteri tribes provided a certain number of infantrymen who at times guarded Algiers and especially the surrounding bordjs''. They were only paid during active service. It was also said about them: "The Zwawa are in front for misery, behind for pay."

Origins

The Zwawa are undoubtedly Berbers, but there are no longer two hypotheses about their tribal origin. The Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun reported that Berber genealogists themselves considered the Zwawa related to the Zenata by blood. In his book, History of the Berbers he said in volume 1:
"The Zwawa and the Zwagha, tribes from the Berber stock of al-Abter, are the children of Semgan, son of Yahya, son of Dari, son of Zeddjik, son of Madghis al-Abter. Of all the Berber tribes, their closest relatives are the Zenata, since Djana, the ancestor of this people, was Semgan's brother and Yahya's son. It is for this reason that the Zwawa and the Zwagha consider themselves related to the Zenata by blood."
However, according to the Andalusian genealogist Ibn Hazm, the Zwawa are a branch of the great Berber tribe of the Kutama, which itself is a branch of the Berber group of Baranis, like the Adjisa, the Masmuda, and the Sanhaja. Ibn Khaldun agrees with Ibn Hazm. The proximity of the Zwawa territory to that of the Kutama, and their cooperation with them to support Ubayd-Allah, founder of the Fatimid dynasty, is strong evidence in favor of this opinion.

History

High Middle Ages

The Kutama, including the Zwawa, like all the other Berber tribes, participated in the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. There are also several toponyms in Spain that derive their origins from Berber tribes settled in the region, such as Atzueva, which can even mean that the Berber language was spoken there, because of the preservation of the Berber prefix for the parentage "Ath" instead of the Arabic "Beni". There are other toponyms too, such as Azuébar, which comes from Zwawa. Without forgetting Algatocin and Benicàssim, which may have been an extinct fraction of the Zwawa. These Beni Qasim even founded a taifa after the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba, the Taifa of Alpuente.
3 of the 47 clan toponyms identified in the Balearic Islands, which were conquered by Muslims in the 10th century, 12th century and 13th centuries, refer to tribes belonging to the Zwawa, these three toponyms are : Beniatron, which is a variant of the name of the Aït Betrun confederation. Ibn Khaldun had mentioned the Aït Betrun in the same form. The second toponym is Artana, which may refer to the Aït Iraten confederation. The third is Benicassim.
The Zwawa were always traditional allies of the Kutama, perhaps even because they are themselves Kutama as Ibn Hazm and Ibn Khaldun claimed, even though they were mentioned separately in the historical records. In the tenth century, the tribes of the Baranis group of modern central Algeria, such as the Sanhaja, the Kutama, and the Zwawa, played a fundamental role in the creation of the Fatimid Caliphate by constituting the Army of the empire that had conquered most of the Maghreb, Sicily, Egypt, the Levant, and the Hejaz. The Zwawa participated in several battles for the Fatimid Caliphate, alongside their neighbors and blood brothers, notably in the siege of the fortress of Kiana against Abu Yazid, in which the Fatimids succeeded in taking the fortress and defeating the Zenati Kharijites and Nekkarites.
File:Porte sarrazine.jpg|thumb|250x250px|The golden gate in Bejaia, built by the Hammadids.
In the year 972, the Zwawa came under the control of the Zirids, Sanhaja Berbers whose ancestor was Ziri Ibn Menad al-Sanhaji, who ruled over "Al-Maghrib al-Awsat" and Ifriqya, also called "Al-Maghrib al-Adna", in the name of the Fatimids after their departure for Cairo. After the split of the Zirid dynasty into two branches in the beginning of the 11st century, the Badicids reigned over Ifriqya from Kairouan, and the Hammadites who reigned over the central Maghreb from the Kaala des Beni Hammad, then Bejaia. The Zwawa were forced to make their submission, and the city of Bejaia was built on their territory. The Zwawa often rebelled against the Hammadids, because they were reassured and had nothing to fear in their mountains.

Almohad and Hafsid periods

was conquered by the Masmudi and Zenati Almohad Berbers, who succeeded in unifying the Maghreb under the great Caliph, Abd al-Mumin Ibn Ali, in 1159. During the period of weakness of the Almohad Caliphate in the 13th century, three dynasties took over power: the Hafsids of the Masmuda tribe who controlled Ifriqya, from Tripoli to Bejaia, and their capital was Tunis; the Zayyanids, also called "Abdalwadids", Zenata who controlled the central Maghreb and had Tlemcen as their capital; finally, the Marinids, Zenata from the same branch as the Zayyanids, and they controlled Al-Maghrib al-Aqsa, and had Fez as their capital. The Zwawa were part of the territory controlled by the government of Bejaia, and therefore of the Hafsid Sultanate.
Ibn Khaldun, who was the only historian of the Middle Ages to give important information about the Zwawa, lived in this period, and precisely in the 14th century. He mentioned the Zwawa as a numerous Berber people, and he gave a list of the tribes belonging to the Zwawa:
"According to Berber genealogists, the Zwawa are divided into several branches such as the Medjesta, the Melikesh, the Beni Koufi, the Mesheddala, the Beni Zericof, the Beni Guzit, the Keresfina, the Uzeldja, the Mudja, the Zeglawa and the Beni Merana. Some people say, and perhaps rightly, that the Melikech belong to the race of the Sanhaja."
In this list, most of the mentioned tribes are not known to anyone, they probably disappeared or were absorbed by other tribes due to various reasons, including civil wars, as was the case with two tribes, the Isemmadien who once belonged to the Aït Iraten, and the Aït U-Belqasem tribe, which was part of the Aït Betrun confederation at least before the middle of the 18th century. This shows how erroneous the claim of common ancestry is. The claim of common ancestry is very difficult to accept everywhere else, is even less acceptable in Kabylia, where the tribe is a political federation which changes over time and at the will of the confederates. The only tribes that still exist in this first list are three: The Aït Melikech of the Wad Sahel, the Beni Koufi of the Guechtoula, and finally, the Mesheddala, neighbors of the Aït Betrun. The Beni Koufi belong to the Guechtoula, but apparently, they were mentioned separately in the list. Here are the tribes of the second list cited by Ibn Khaldun :
"Today, the most prominent Zwawa tribes are the Beni Idjer, the Beni Mengellet, the Beni Itrun, the Beni Yenni, the Beni Bou-Ghardan, the Beni Ituragh, the Beni Bu Yusef, the Beni Chayb, the Beni Aissi, the Beni Sedqa, the Beni Ghubrin and the Beni Gechtoula."
The Aït Iraten and the Aït Frawsen, Zwawian tribes, were also mentioned on the same page, but not in this list. Moreover, Ibn Khaldun mentioned the Ait Yenni separately from the Ait Betrun, while they belong to the latter. Same thing for the Ait Bu Yusef, who were mentioned separately from the Aït Mengellat, while they are part of the latter. However, some tribes considered as Zwawa, in the less restricted sense, were not mentioned here, such as the Aït Yahya, the Illilten and the Aït Khelili.
Here is what Ibn Khaldun said about the Zwawa:
"The territory of the Zwawa is located in the province of Bejaia and separates the country of the Kutama from that of the Sanhaja. They live in the midst of precipices formed by mountains so high that the view is dazzled, and so wooded that a traveler cannot find his way there. This is how the Beni Ghubrin inhabit the Ziri, a mountain also called Djebel ez-Zan, because of the large quantity of zean oaks with which it is covered, and the Beni Frawen and the Beni Iraten occupy the one located between Bejaia and Dellys. This last mountain is one of their most difficult retreats to tackle and the easiest to defend; from there they brave the power of the government, and they pay tax only when it suits them. they stand on this lofty peak and challenge the forces of the Sultan, although they still recognize its authority. Their name is even registered in the registers of the administration as a tribe subject to tax."
In the 14th century, the Marinid Berbers launched an expedition into the territory of the Abdelwadids of Tlemcen and the Hafsids of Tunis with the aim of unifying the Maghreb, as their predecessors, the Almohads, did. In the year 1338, the 10th Marinid Sultan, Abu al-Hassan, had camped with his army in Mitidja, not far from Algiers, after his successful military campaign against the Kingdom of Tlemcen. One of his sons, Abu Abdulrahman Ya'qub, fled, was arrested and died shortly thereafter. After this event, a butcher from the Sultan's kitchen, who looked a lot like Abu Abdulrahman Yacoub, went to the Aït Iraten. When he reached the tribe's territory, Chimsi, a woman of the noble family of the Abd al-Samed, hastened to grant him protection and urged the whole tribe to recognize the authority of the pretender and to assist him against the sultan. So, the latter offered considerable sums to the sons of Chimsi and to the people of the tribe, in order to have the pretender delivered. Chimsi initially rejected this proposal, but having subsequently discovered that she had supported an impostor, she withdrew her protection and sent him back to the country occupied by the Arabs. Then she went to appear before the Sultan with a deputation made up of some of her sons and several notables of her tribe. The Marinid monarch, Abu al-Hassan Ibn Uthman, gave her the most honorable welcome, and having showered her with gifts and those who had accompanied her. The Abd al-Samed family still retained command of the tribe.
During the Almohad period, and especially Hafsid, there were many mentions of great scholars from the Zwawa, such as Abu Zakariya Yahya ez-Zwawi, better known under the name of Ibn Mu'ṭi, philologist from the Hesnawa tribe, confederation of the Ait Aissi, author of the first versified grammatical work, the Alfiyya. He also wrote several works on various subjects; Abu Ali Nacer ed-Din ez-Zwawi, from the Meshedalla, great doctor of Bejaia; Amrane al-Medhedalli, also from the Meshedalla, professor of law; Abu r-Ruḥ 'Isa al-Mengellati, from the Aït Mengellat; Omar Ibn 'Ali from the Aït Melikesh; Abu el-'Abbas from the Aït Ghubri, and many other scholars from various Zwawian tribes. The French historian, Robert Brunschvig, had said in his book, La Berbérie Orientale sous les Hafsides, volume 1, that the nisbas formed on Meshedalla, Melikesh, Mengellat, Ghubri are numerous in the texts from the Hafsid period.