Izeggaghen

(singular Azeggagh)

   Tuareg term that refers to dark-skinned agriculturalist known to Arabs as Haratine (singular Hartani). In late nineteenth century, Haratine migrated from the Tidikelt oases and settled around the water points in the major valleys of the Ahaggar country to cultivate the more fertile land for the Tuareg nobility. In the Ghat oasis, they are known as Ikewweren. The position of the Haratine was that of a dependent client. He worked the land on a contract basis and was entitled to one-fifth of the harvest. While technically a free man, the condition of the Haratine, or khommas as he was called, could not escape the trappings of poverty as a result of demands made on him by the noble classes until the last decades of French colonialism and the development of the Sahara provided him with the opportunity to join the emerging wage labor market. Haratine are found in Algeria, Mauritania, and Morocco. The etymology of the term "Haratine" expresses many things. It has evolved through time from the root of the Arabic verb haratha, "to plant." It is possible that conquering tribes referred to certain agricultural people as harrathin, "cultivators of land." This link with agriculture suggests in turn a connection with the ancient inhabitants of the Saharan oases. Another possible meaning may be shown by breaking down the term Haratine into two components: hor and thani. These two separate words denote a second free people, as opposed to the freeborn: Arab Ahrars and commoners.

   In Tamazight (Berber), however, the black population is referred to as iqbliyn (singular aqbliy), referring to the people of the east or the inhabitants of the southeastern oases. This term could have been coined during the invasion of the nomadic Berbers of the sedentary communities, which were composed of Haratine and Arab commoners in the 17th and 18th centuries. Iqbliyn are, in turn, divided into iqbliyn imalalan, or "white easterners," who own land, and iqbliy ungaln, or "black easterners," who have no access to land and are thus subject to subordination by Berbers and Holy Arabs. Iqbliyn imalalan, also called qbala, are of Arab descent, such as the Bni Hsin, who populate a few ksars around the Rich area, and the Ahrars. In Berber, the term ahardan, which is closer to "Haratine," refers to a person with a dark-skinned complexion. The term "Haratine" does not exist in Arabic, suggesting an Arabization of this Berber term from its original from of ahardan to the locally Arabized version of "Hartani." Outside Tafilalet, the Haratine are referred to as drawa, "natives of the Dra`a Oasis," an oasis to the west of the Ziz Oasis, or `azzi (pl. `awazza Bambara), in reference to the Bambara people of sub-Saharan Africa. In the Sous region, they are called Issuqiyn. Haratine are generally treated as an inferior social group and were constrained to remain at the bottom of the social hierarchy by Berbers and Arabs who denied them access to landownership. However, Haratine have in recent years, particularly over the past four decades, remitted significant funds from overseas and national migration and have begun to buy land and enter politics on a large scale.