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Topic: Were Masmuda Berbers, Wangarawa of Sudan the same people

dana marniche
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In attempting to complete a research project recently I ran into more than a few interesting and rather telling facts - among them, the documentation that supports the view that Mauri Bavares of Mauretania Caesarea circa 3rd -4th centuries (corresponding with modern Algeria) likely moved south into Mauretania giving their name to the Adrar Tmar which was called Mountain of the Bafours as late as the 16th century. See T. Lewicki reference below.

I have to admit before completion of this project I had assumed most of the Mauri were of 'hamitic" African type resembling the Kel Ewe, KelFerouan and other dark-skinned relatively unmodified Tuareg and their east African relatives the Afar/Danakil, etc.

mauri described by ancient Byzantines as “black skinned” people who curled their hair “with hot irons”.

Known fact No. 1 - It is well known and has been reiterated by certain scholars that the name Bavares for a people of the southern chotts was also sometimes written Babor, Babar and Barbares. (See D. Goldenberg, Rabbinic Knowledge of Black Africa, p. 3 and fn. 3
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dmg2/sifre%20as%20publ.%20with%20additions.pdf and also see p 217 of the book Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archélologique de la Societe archelologicue. 1887. )

Unknown fact no. 2. A second fact I had not been aware of previously is that it is known from Portuguese and Arab sources the latter name was a word applied specifically to peoples of Mali and Ghana that were known as Wangara or Djanawa (Gnawa) otherwise early on known as Soninke. T. Lewicki - "The Role of the Sahara and the Saharians in the Relationship between North and South". In General History of Africa 3. pp. 161-162.

Masmuda woman

I had always known the Bafours were surmised to have been the relatives of the original black indigenes of southern Morocco and the Mauretanian Adrar and Dar Tichitt such as the Haratin or Wangara (ancestral Songhai/Soninke) and to have some kinship with the Imraguen fisherman.

Things began to fall into place as the Bavares and Mauri Bacquates were definitely a closely related people ethnically speaking. The Baquates are considered to be the ancestral Barghuwata Berbers a branch of the Masmuda.

man from the Zakara clan of the Masmuda tribe

Unknown fact number 3 – Barghou, Bergou, Bargawa or Borghu in the documents is a common ethnonym and place name for the Wangara or Garawan traders.

The Masmuda are described similarly to their “Mauri” ancestors by Nasir Khusrau Abu Shama and Ibn ButlanYaacov Lev also wrote in, “Army Regime and Society in Fatimid Egypt” (1987) about the 20,000 Masmuda men that made up part of the Fatimid troops in Egypt saying, “Masamida were Berbers from the Western Maghreb. Nasir-i Khusrau, however, says that they were blacks and characterized them as infantry who used lances and swords” At this time their major portion the Ghomara occupy the rif region of Morocco and they extend to the Upper Atlas. They were bounded on the north by the Mediterranean but they had doubtless were those Mauri occupying both sides fo the Mediterranean.

They were among the first and largest of the Berber tribes to settle in Spain.

Shilha (Chleuh)or Masmuda woman of the Sous

It is likely the Masmuda whom are referred to as black as night by St. Isidore in his Etymologia “the Mauri are black as night the Gauls white”. By the time of the great slave trade which brought in over 2 million Euroepans to the Maghreb most of the Masmuda had probably absorbed European blood. Although most Masmuda remain dark brown and brownish today many closer to the Mediterranean are almost European in appearance. . In the days of Nasir and Abu Shama these “blacks” Masmuda were primarily represented by the tribe known as Ghomara a people who today often look more European than Middle Eastern and certainly nothing like their black African ancestors. Leo Africanus in fact links the Gumera to the inhabitants of Bardaei or Bardoa who were both the Teda (Garawan) and Tuareg.

In order to illustrate how the African connection to the Masmuda has been overlooked one needs to be aware of the fact that today Berber is associated with Berber-speakers or those who speak Amazigh ( another name for the language of the Tuareg). Early Jarawa or Jawara (Garawan or Goran) between Algeria and Fezzan, however, appear to have spoken either Nilo-Saharan and or Hausa related dialects. What is apparent is that the Amazigh was adopted by some of these Garawan peoples of Algeria who are presently still called Ghuwara or Ghuara in Wargla Toughourt and Guarara and other places. The Hausa dialect according to S. Mudock was apparently spoken in the Wargla until the 9th century. While modern black Ghuara peoples in the region speak Berber. The early occupants of Fezzan also appear to have been both Hausa and Nilo-Saharan related populations. There they were known as Garawan and Ikarduwan or Teda Kareda.

This also leads to the question of the roots of the Tuareg Amazigh dialect and its relationship to Hausa or the Chadic group.
The other obstacle which had led away scholars away from the considering of the Bargawa and Wangara ancestry of the Masmuda is the fact that there has been a recent in the last several centuries influx of Haratin, Ikaraden (Izaggaren), Gnawa or Soninke related peoples into Maghreb as slaves and subject castes among the Sanhaja and present Moors (Hassaniyya/Traraza, etc.) . This however has no bearing on the original presence of such peoples in the Atlas and Mauretanian Adrar and the fact that they were ethnically related to the original occupants of the Saharan Oases.

Finally, in the documents the word “white” or “red” is often used for the early Wakore, Sarakholle, Serere, Wangara, Bafour, and other African traders of the Niger (who came to be called Negroes by Leo Africanus) and who were of Haratin, Zaghawa and Songhai origin before mixing with other Sao populations. This has unfortunately been misinterpreted by Western historians as signifying the presence of fair-skinned peoples amongst ancient Sudanic populations and amidst the early Maghreb populations called Mauri. Such words in fact amongst early Africans and Arabs are evidence only of peoples of Haratin and Garawan/ Zaghawa origin and not reference to modern day Muslims, Berbers in today’s North Africa or even Tuareg. The term “white Ibo” is a case in point and still used for lighter skinned Ibo. The term white as used in early Arabic or African sources has nevertheless been often used as an excuse to suggest the founding of Sudanic kingdoms and states by obviously today not very black “Berber-speakers” affiliated Europeans..

Thousands of Masmuda (Shluh/Shilha/Chluh)men like the above took part in the earliest invasions of Spain with another well known group of "blacks" - the Zanata Berbers, whose largest component were the Jarawa (Wangara) and the Kel Imaqqoran (Magherawat es- sudan) and Iforas or Ferouan Tuareg. The Zanata are called the largest confederation of Berber tribes by Ibn Khaldun - 14th century.

Until scholars begin to address the issue of why there are no references to “white” or even fair-skinned Berber clans before 500 years ago and why the Masmuda are often refered to as blacks one must assume the early Masmuda including the Ghomara were once purely black Africans of the Sudanic or Wangara sort that have since the time of Abu Shama and Nasir Khusrau intermingled of late with Eurasians/Europeans brought into Africa with the great slave trade.