Berber, self-name Amazigh, plural ImazighenBerber girl.Harrison
Formanany of the descendants of the pre-Arab inhabitants of
North Africa. The Berbers live in scattered communities across
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt and tend to be
concentrated in the mountain and desert regions of those
countries. Smaller numbers of Berbers live in the northern
portions of Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. They speak various
languages belonging to the Afro-Asiatic language family. (See
Amazigh languages.)  The ancient Numidians, who were at first
allies of Carthage and then clients of the Roman Empire, were
Berbers; the term Berber is derived from the Roman term for
barbarians, barbara, as is the name Barbary, which formerly
denoted the North African coast. The Berbers strenuously
resisted the Arab invasion of the 7th century ce, but they were
eventually converted to Islam. Many Berbers also adopted Arabic
as their language and were thus assimilated into the Arab
community. The Berbers played an important role in th