Tekna

For other uses, see Tekna (disambiguation).
Tekna
تكنة
EthnicityArab-Berber
LocationMorocco, Western Sahara, Algeria
LanguageHassaniya Arabic (majority)
Tashelhit (minority)
ReligionSunni Islam

The Tekna (Arabic: تكنة, romanized: Takna) is a Sahrawi semi-nomadic tribal confederation.[1] It is of mixed Hassani Arab[2] and Sanhaja Berber origins.[1][3][4] Its present-day constituents inhabit southern Morocco, northern Western Sahara and western Algeria, though their traditional migration routes extend beyond these areas.

Demographics

The Tekna tribes are predominantly Hassaniya Arabic-speaking, but they also include a minority of Shilha-speaking tribes.[5][6][7] Tekna are predominantly Muslims, belonging to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam.

Traditionally, the Tekna lifestyle blended nomadic practices, such as camel and goat herding, with sedentary activities focused on maintaining important caravan trading routes in the Western Sahara.[8][9]

The Tekna are divided into several Berber- or Arabic-speaking tribes, which are then subdivided into two tribal confederations, or leff:[10]

  1. the Aït Djemel confederacy (Western Tekna), consisting of the tribes of Aït Lahcen, Izerguiyen, Yaggout, and Aït Moussa Ou Ali;[11] and
  2. the Aït Atman (or Aït Bella) confederacy (Eastern Tekna), consisting of the tribes of Azouafit, Aït Yassine, Aït Oussa, Aït Brahim, and Aït Hmad.[12]

History

Islam began spreading to the Maghreb in the 8th and 9th centuries CE.[13] One of the first historically significant Maghrebi leaders, Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, came to power in the 11th century. Following Ibn Tashfin's promotion to garrison leader by his cousin Abu Bakr Ibn Umar, Ibn Tashfin successfully assembled an army of followers, the Almoravids, who quickly advanced into the Atlas range and conquered northern Morocco by 1059. In 1062, Ibn Tashfin founded Marrakech and, in 1069, captured Fez, completing the Almoravid conquest of Morocco. Ibn Tashfin later expanded his empire to include Muslim Spain, but the rise of Christian Spain and internal tribal conflicts led to its eventual collapse in the following centuries.[14][15]

In the subsequent years, various dynasties held differing levels of control over regional tribes. The Saadian dynasty, originating in the desert, expelled the Portuguese from present-day Agadir in the mid-16th century, before expanding north and south to Timbuktu under Ahmad el-Mansour.[14] In the 17th century, the first Alawite sultan of Morocco, Al-Rashid Ibn Sharif, seized control over the territory extending from the Tafna River southward to Senegal and Timbuktu. Contingents of Tekna troops were then sent to the Senegal valley on behalf of the Sultan.[1][16] Ibn Sharif's successor, Moulay Ismail, unified Morocco and led successful desert campaigns to establish nominal sovereignty throughout the region. However, after Moulay Ismail's death in 1727, effective power became intermittent or localized.[14]

After 1765, the Tekna revolted, demanding greater autonomy.[1] On May 30, 1767, Mohammed ben Abdallah, Sultan of Morocco, signed a peace and commerce treaty with King Charles III of Spain, recognizing that Morocco did not control the Tekna tribes.[17]

However, at the time of the Spanish colonization and at the beginning of the 20th century, the Tekna tribes recognized the Sultan of Morocco as their spiritual ruler, but not their political one.[18][16][8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gaudio, Attilio (1993-01-01). Les populations du Sahara occidental: histoire, vie et culture (in French). KARTHALA Editions. p. 107. ISBN 9782865374113.
  2. ^ Butcher, Charity (2019-04-16). The Handbook of Cross-Border Ethnic and Religious Affinities. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-4422-5022-2.
  3. ^ Castellino, Joshua (2000). International Law and Self-Determination. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoof publishers. pp. 239–243. ISBN 90-411-1409-2.
  4. ^ Barbier, Maurice (2003-06-01). Le conflit du Sahara occidental: Réédition d'un livre paru en 1982 (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 20. ISBN 9782296278776.
  5. ^ Claire Cécile Mitatre, « Le couloir ouest-saharien : un espace gradué », L’Année du Maghreb, VII (2011), p.211-228
  6. ^ Mohamed, Mohamed Hassan (2012-02-22). Between Caravan and Sultan: The Bayruk of Southern Morocco: A Study in History and Identity. BRILL. pp. Pages: 75, 205. ISBN 978-90-04-18379-7. ...He sought to explain the seeming incongruity of their Shilha speech and affiliation with Arabophone Takna like the (Ait Jamal) Ait Musa and Azraqayn." "The most significant result of Ibn Sa'ud's purported discovery of water was his investiture with an honorific laqab (nickname): ushin for Shilha-speaking Takna and al-dhib (wolf) for their Arabic-speaking counterparts.
  7. ^ "Claire Cécile Mitatre, Au Nord Du Sud. Espace, Valeurs Et Passion Au Sahara Atlantique". www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk. p. 150. doi:10.3197/np.2023.270110. Retrieved 2025-11-06. Encompassingeight tribes, the Tekna of the Wad Nûn are both berberophone (Tachelhit) andarabophone (Ḥassānīya)
  8. ^ a b Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders: Western Sahara (Advisory Opinions), 16 October 1975 [1]
  9. ^ Suwaed, Muhammad (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Bedouins. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 225. ISBN 9781442254510.
  10. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-30. Retrieved 2014-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ Amsidder, Lina; Alary, Véronique; Duteurtre, Guillaume; Mnaouer, Ihssane (2024-09-12). "The economic contribution of camel-based livestock systems in North-African drylands: the case of East and South Moroccan provinces". Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice. 14 13600. Bibcode:2024PRPP...1413600A. doi:10.3389/past.2024.13600. ISSN 2041-7136.
  12. ^ Freire, Francisco (2022). State, Society and Islam in the Western Regions of the Sahara (1st ed.). London: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-7556-4350-9.
  13. ^ Michalopoulos, Stelios; Naghavi, Alireza; Prarolo, Giovanni (2018-12-01). "Trade and Geography in the Spread of Islam". The Economic Journal. 128 (616): 3210–3241. doi:10.1111/ecoj.12557. hdl:11585/631648. ISSN 0013-0133. PMC 8046173. PMID 33859441.
  14. ^ a b c Jensen, Erik (2012). Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate? (2nd ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 9–10. ISBN 978-1-58826-829-7.
  15. ^ Hopley, Russell (2011-12-08), "ʿAli, ibn Yusuf ibn Tashfin", African American Studies Center, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.48216, ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1, retrieved 2025-10-28{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  16. ^ a b Suarez, David (2016). The Western Sahara and the Search for the Roots of Sahrawi National Identity (Thesis). Florida International University. p. 221. doi:10.25148/etd.fidc001212.
  17. ^ Pedro Giménez de Aragón Sierra. "Proyecto Ibn Jaldun. VII. El colonialismo español en el s. XIX: África. 2. Chafarinas, Sidi Ifni y el Sáhara" (in Spanish). Junta de Andalucía. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  18. ^ Histoire et géographie de l'Europe. Tekna Confederation (Tekna). Depends upon Morocco

Bibliography

(in French) Attilo Gaudio, "Les populations du Sahara occidental: histoire, vie et culture", ed. Karthala 1993, (Chap. VIII, pp. 97–116) (ISBN 2-86537-411-4) [2]

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