- published: 14 Oct 2014
- views: 173502
The Shawia people, or Chaouis (Algerian Arabic: شاويه, tachawit: Išawiyen) are a Berber people who live mainly in the Aurès, Nememcha and Belezma regions into and surrounded by the Aurès Mountains, a large part of eastern Algeria known in ancient times as Numidia . They call themselves Išawiyen /icawiyen(pronounced [iʃawijən]) and speak the Shawia language.
Etymologically, the term Chaoui/Shawi derives from the berber word 'Ich' which means 'Horn' in reference to the national god of the Numidians, Amon, who is depicted as a human head with the horns of a ram. They are also known as the Zenetes, which emigrated from Numidia to many parts of North Africa (Rif mountains, Chenoua mountains, Libya and Timimoun)
After the independence of Algeria, the Chaouis remained localized mainly in the Auresian region. They represent the first ethnic group in Algeria, and second Berber-speaking group in terms of number of speakers, the first being the Kabyle.
The patriarch of Berbers is believed to be Medghassen as common ancestor of the Zenetes and of the Botri as well. Ibn Khaldun said that the Zenetas are Berbers. Modern Historians rank this Berber region within the group of Getules or the much more ancient Meshwesh, Massylii, Mazaxes peoples. From whom formed later times the Zenetas (mainly the inhabitants of the Aures in the Middle Ages). Chaoui clans known by Ibn Khaldoun were the well known Ifren Maghrawa Djerawa Abdalwadides, The Howara and Awarba.