The Berbers, more appropriately known as Imazighen (with the singular Amazigh) are a pre-Arab ethnic group that has largely adopted an Arab identity, with the term being a Roman word that served as a loose, catch-all term to classify the non-Egyptian and non-Hellenized people of the region.
The areas of North Africa that have retained the Berber language and traditions best have been, in general, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. Much of Berber culture is still celebrated among the cultural elite in Morocco and Algeria, especially in the Kabylia, the Aurès and the Atlas Mountains. The Kabyles were one of the few peoples in North Africa who remained independent during successive rule by the Romans, the Byzantines, the Vandals, the Ottoman Turks and the Carthaginians. Even after the Arab conquest of North Africa, the Kabyle people still maintained possession of their mountains.
