Nalut - my city!

As part of the "TELL US ABOUT YOUR CITY" series, I am writing about Nalut my place of origin in Libya (see map below). First, I would like to give you all a brief overview of berbers in Libya for those who know relatively little about their "jbalia" peers..

About Berbers

Berbers or Amazigh were the original inhabitants of North Africa. There are at least six Berber/Amazigh populations in Libya who currently live in remote areas whether in the mountains (Nafussa) or in desert areas (such at the Tamacheq in the South) where they isolated themselves to avoid waves of Arab migration, escape invaders and keep their culture intact. Compared to our other North African neighbors Algeria and Morocco, Libya has much fewer berbers constituting of less than 5% of the population and with pro-Arab government policies it is unlikely that the berber culture will sustain itself for generations to come.

Berbers and Arabs

By and large, the differences between Arabs and Berbers lay in culture and language. It would be impossible to distinguish between the two based on physical attributes, although berbers are said to be much paler and exotic looking, with colored eyes not being an uncommon trait (I am definately no example of this!). The biggest separator between Arabs and Berbers remains language - Berbers still use the amazigh language among each other although all know the Arab language and culture. The berber dialect is becoming more and more Arabised with many Arab words used (sort of like Tunisians with French), this is probably due to the fact that the Amazigh language has no written form. Culturally, there are differences in rituals and foods but with emergence of Satellite TV it is all becoming increasingly homogenous. As a people Berbers do not have much of an identity, compared to the more unified Arabs who see themselves as one nation. Berbers live more by tribal and familial lines and tend to identify with a clan rather than a common coherent culture. Religiously, all berbers are Muslims; the Arabs brought Islam to Libya, in fact berbers were marginally Christian before.

Nalut: My Hometown

My entire family is from Nalut in Libya, which is part of the Jabal Nafusa (mountains of Nafusa) and that technically qualifies me as an Amazighia! With a population of 170,000, the Nafusa range contains most of Libya's amazigh population. Nalut is a small town on the top of the mountain and is located halfway between Tripoli and Ghadames and marks the end of the Nafusa mountains.

Often, Nalut is visited as a part of a desert tour for tourism. The city is known for its incomparable old town where it is possible to see how people lived up til about a century ago andwhere remanants of an old castle and mosque may be found. The castle or "Kasr" was used in those days for the storage of foods such as grains and olive oils - which serve the basis of many of our foods. Each year as I go to visit the home of my ancestors, I am increasingly impressed with the expansion in building and the continued growth within Nalut. We now even have a "downtown" for shopping named "Lebanon Road" where all items of clothing and for the house are brought up from Tripoli and sold at the quarter of the price. There are also several restaurants in the downtown area! In addition, there are several colleges and schools as well as a large hospital where the staff is predominantly Eastern European (apparently we have quite the Ukrainian population)! Regardless though, as soon as you enter Nalut.. you will undoubtedly be impressed at how well the culture has remained intact and you will be overcome by a mystical feeling that time just went back a few hundred years...


Resources:

Beautiful pictures of Nalut: http://www.jorgetutor.com/libia/nalut/nalut.htm
Website for Libyan berbers: http://www.libyamazigh.org/


***Please read Ayman's comments for further information on the Amazigh people - he is by far much more knowledgeable on this topic!!!***