Map of territories inhabited by Jebala in Northern Morocco
Total population
1,284,000[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Northern Morocco, mostly concentrated in north-west Morocco and Rif
Languages
Jebli Arabic
Religion
Sunni Islam
The Jebala (Moroccan Arabic: جبالة, romanized: Jbāla) are a tribal confederation inhabiting an area in northwest Morocco from the town of Ketema to the west. The Jbala region (from Moroccan Arabic: جبال, romanized: jbāl, lit. 'mountains') thus occupies the western part of the Rif mountains. The Jbala has a population of 1,284,000[citation needed] and is divided into over 40 tribes,[1] today known as "rural communes" (جماعات قروية), and adjacent to them are a small group of nine tribes called the Ghmara (غمارة), who inhabit the territory between the line of mountain peaks to the north of Chefchaouen and the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to tribal heterogeneity, this region is also geographically diverse. High mountains are interspersed with hills and flatlands, and local inhabitants settle in both the high mountains and valleys. In addition to the rainy climate, which influences the way the inhabitants build their houses as well as their special agricultural practices,[2] there are also numerous cultural characteristics that contribute to an emphasised sense of identity[3] and make the Jbala people clearly distinguishable from their neighbours from the eastern part of the Rif Mountains (Riafa or Rwafa) where the climate is more arid, and from the former shepherds from the Atlantic coast (‘Arab). There are only a few cities in the country of the Jbala, and its population remains mostly rural. During the Middle Ages, chroniclers and historians knew the Jbala under their original name, Ghomara.[4][5]
^Hart, D. M. (1999), « Luchas hereditarias rifeñas o vendettas rifeñas y segmentación o anti-segmentación ? Datos adicionales sobre los Ait Uriagel y contestación parcial a Henry Munson », Hart y Rachid Raha (dir.), La sociedad bereber del Rif marroquí. Sobre la teoría de la segmentaridad en el Magreb, Grenade, Universidad de Granada, Diputación Provincial de Granada, Série Historia y Antropología del Magreb contemporáneo.
^Ater M. et al. (2018), « Agrosystèmes traditionnels et savoirs agronomiques des paysans du pays Jbala (Rif occidental) », Les Jbala. Peuplement, langue et ruralité, Actes des rencontres de Chefchaouen, Taounate et Larache, 2011, 2012, 2014, coordination M. Mezzine, J. Vignet-Zunz, F. Brigui, soutien de l’Ass. Targa-AIDE, Rabat.
Also see: Hmimsa Y. et al., (2012), “Vernacular taxonomy, classification and varietal diversity of fig (Ficuscarica L.) among Jbala cultivators in Northern Morocco”, Human Ecology. DOI:10.1007/s10745-012-9471-x.
^Vignet-Zunz, J. (2014), Les Jbala du Rif. Des lettrés en montagne, Casablanca: Éditions la Croisée des Chemins.: 23-40.
^Mezzine M. (2018), « Le peuplement du Maroc au-delà des cartes : le cas des populations du pays Jbala/Ghmara », Les Jbala. Peuplement, langue et ruralité, Actes des rencontres de Chefchaouen, Taounate et Larache, 2011, 2012, 2014, coordination M. Mezzine, J. Vignet-Zunz, F. Brigui, soutien de l’Ass. Targa-AIDE, Rabat.
^Martinez Enamorado V. (2018), « Les significations historiques du vocable « Rif » », Les Jbala. Peuplement, langue et ruralité, Actes des rencontres de Chefchaouen, Taounate et Larache, 2011, 2012, 2014, coordination M. Mezzine, J. Vignet-Zunz, F. Brigui, soutien de l’Ass. Targa-AIDE, Rabat.
The Jebala (Moroccan Arabic: جبالة, romanized: Jbāla) are a tribal confederation inhabiting an area in northwest Morocco from the town of Ketema to the...
west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebalapeople. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier...
I The Rif War, a 1920–26 conflict between the Rif people and the Spanish, French, and Jebalapeople. Volta-Bani War; another African colonial revolt around...
Marrakesh. Jebli dialects: Dialects of northwestern Morocco, spoken by the Jebalapeople. Sedentary ("village") dialects of Zerhoun and Sefrou and their neighboring...
included Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the Rif territory occupied by the Jebalapeople and a southern area including territory around Ifni, Tarfaya, and Spanish...
1925. The motivation to bomb Chefchaouen specifically was to drive the Jebalapeople out of the war, as it was a city the tribe considered holy. Paul Ayres...
permission to settle in Morocco. Arab tribes North African Arabs Maghreb Jebalapeople Zaër Abda Beni Hassan Maqil Beni Khirane Tribes of Morocco. Ahl Rachida...
Northern Morocco.[citation needed] Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni, leader of the Jebala tribal confederacy in Morocco[citation needed] Mouha ou Hammou Zayani, Moroccan...
support to Central African Republic, 8 June 2021 Brown, Kenneth L. (1976). People of Sale: Tradition and Change in a Moroccan City, 1830–1930. Cambridge,...
Majaz is a small town and rural commune near the Mediterranean coast in the Jebala region of northwest Morocco, between Tangier and Ceuta. Administratively...
Sharif (descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), and a leader of the Jebala tribal confederacy in Morocco at the turn of the 20th century. While he...
also elected to experience local culture and selected a homestay with a Jebala family, working at their apiary in the city of Chefchaouen in the Rif mountains...
his head was cut off and stuck on a pole as a "barbaric lesson" to the people. The Bia River expedition finished the job of establishing an administration...
Berbers, this type of guembri is more widely known as loutaralthough in the Jebala area it is actually called a guembri. Popular loutar players are Mohamed...
control of the Habt region (the Gharb and Khlot plains and part of the Jebala territory) with the help of the Ottoman Regency of Algiers. With a force...
from his position in March 1887. Ahmed al-Raisuni was a leader of three Jebala tribes near Tangier. He was influenced by the success of the 1901 Miss Stone...
autonomy being stripped away. Early anti-colonial revolts were led by the Jebala and Izayen confederations, but the most prominent of these revolts culminated...
regions to the south and southeast of Melilla. The military operations in Jebala, in the Moroccan west, began in 1911 with the Larache landing. Spain worked...
Tammuz in the year 830 of Alexander (518/519 CE), from the camp of GBALA (Jebala), king of the 'SNYA (Ghassanids or the Ġassān clan). In it, he tells of...
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