The Chenoua people (Shenwa: Icenwiyen / ⵉⵛⵏⵡⵉⵢⵏ, ) are a Berber ethnic group indigenous to Mount Chenoua and the Dahra Mountain Range in northern Algeria, which spans Tipaza Province, parts of Chlef Province, and the northern areas of Ain Delfa Province. They were a part of the broader Mauri identity in antiquity. They have a population of about 108,000 to 750,000 people, depending on the source. The Chenoua refer to themselves as the Icenwiyen.
The Chenoua traditionally speak the Shenwa language, a Northern Berber language that is closely related to the Shawiya language in the Aurès Mountains and other Zenata Berber varieties. The Shenwa language has about 76,000 speakers. In 1843, the Chenoua tribe Beni Menacer was one of the first Berber tribes to resist French colonization. One of the most prominent Chenoua people was Zoulikha Oudai, dubbed the "mother of martyrs."
Etymology The English word 'Chenoua' is derived from the Arabic "شنوة" (Shanawa) which then derives from the local Mount Chenoua, the known cultural "anchor" of the Chenoua people, near Tipaza. This term is commonly used in English or French texts.
The Chenoua people call themselves the Icenwiyen (ⵉⵛⵏⵡⵉⵢⵏ) and call their language Haqbaylit or Haqbayləkt. The term comes from the Ottomans, who broadly applied the label to mountain-dwelling peoples. Today, this has confused linguists as they use the term to refer to the Kabyle further west. Nonetheless, the Chenoua have continued to use the Haqbaylit or Haqbayləkt term for their language.
History
Antiquity
The region where the Chenoua people live today has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. Across Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern period, the Chenoua people were not distinct from the loosely connected Berber tribes of the wider Maghreb. In the 8th century BC, the Phoenicians established colonies along the southern Mediterranean to the Strait of Gibraltar. Tipaza, thought to be a cultural city of the Chenoua people, was one of the cities founded by the Punics as a trade post around the 6th century BC. The city became a major maritime post as the Punics heavily engaged and mixed with the local Berber population, whom they called the Libyans. In the 3rd century BC, the area was under the control of the Masaesyli. King Syphax of the Masaesyli famously allied with Carthage in the Second Punic War, which led to his defeat. After the fall of Carthage, the region fully came under Numidian rule. The reign of Mauretanian King Juba II flourished and rebuilt coastal cities, including Tipaza and Caesarea, the new capital.The region surrounding Mount Chenoua was later annexed by the Romans, who called the Berbers the Mauri.
Those living in Roman colonies were given Roman citizenship as the cities continued to prosper. In contrast, while the coastal cities were becoming heavily Romanized and Christianized, rural Mauri populations in the mountains retained their language and culture without much assimilation. This trend would continue throughout history. Others became part of the Roman military, mainly as cavalrymen. In 372, Firmus led a rebellion against several coastal cities, sacking them. Berber populations retained their rural communities and cultures while the Vandals controlled the region.
Middle Ages
After the collapse of Roman North Africa, the Mauro-Roman Kingdom controlled the modern Chenoua heartland. By 533, Byzantine forces had conquered the Vandal Kingdom and various different Berber kingdoms had been scattered across the Maghreb. While the same ancient cities of Caesarea and Tipaza were under Byzantine control, the Berber kingdoms kept sovereignty over inland and mountainous terrain. Various conflicts would break out between the Berbers and the Byzantines. The coastal cities would remain under Byzantine control up until the Arab invasions.In the 8th century, following the Arab conquest of Egypt, the Umayyad Caliphate began their invasion of the Maghreb. By 711, they had conquered its entirety. Under Arab rule, the Berbers rapidly converted to Islam. Since the Umayyads were focused on the flatlands, mountainous and rural Berber communities were able to keep their culture, language, and clans. Some Berbers stayed Christians. Yet, due to heavy taxations and discriminatory behavior from the Arabs, the Berbers heavily opposed the Umayyads. This led to the Great Berber Revolt, in which the ancestors of the Chenoua took part of, which ended Umayyad rule in the region. In the 11th century, following the Zirid Dynasty's proclamation of splitting from the Fatimid Caliphate, the Fatimids retaliated by encouraging Bedouin Arab tribes, such as the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, to migrate into the Zirid and defeat them. Unlike previous Arab migrations, which somewhat allowed the Berber identity to thrive in rural areas, the migrations of the Bedouin Arabs largely arabized the Berber populations, including the modern Chenoua. The Zirid Dynasty was destroyed and the nearby Hammadid Dynasty and Zenata Berbers were weakened. This is a major factor of the modern Arabization of the Chenoua people.
The Zenata Berbers, the ancestors of the Chenoua, were able to govern themselves with tribal councils in the mountains.
Ottoman Empire
In 1516, the Barbarossa brothers captured Algiers from the Spanish and proclaimed themselves as the sultans of Algeria. After Aruj's death, his brother Hayreddin brought the territory to the Ottoman Empire in 1520, who founded the city as the Regency of Algiers. Unlike other urbanized centers or agricultural plains directly controlled by the Ottomans, rural Berber communities continued to have a sort of preserved culture, even with arabization. This successfully preserved the Shenwa language spoken by Chenoua people and their Sunni Muslim beliefs today. Meanwhile, Turkish soldiers settled the coastal cities of the region's lowlands, mixing with the Berber population and producing Kourouglis.
The Regency of Algiers depended on the Makhzen to levy taxes in rural areas. The Chenoua and other Berbers of the mountains resisted these taxes, resulting in several skirmishes. Whenever the Ottoman beys asserted authority, the Chenoua would retreat back to their forts in the mountains. Yet, even with divisions, the Ottomans and Chenoua were unified in their battle against the Europeans. The Chenoua people would loosely ally with the Ottomans whenever the Christians invaded the region's coasts. Some Chenoua, alongside other Berbers, even participated in piracy. In the 1740s, English traveler Thomas Shaw visited the Regency of Algiers, describing Mount Chenoua and the people.
French Algeria and Algerian War
Following the French invasion of Algiers in 1830, French forces moved westward toward Tipaza, Cherchell, and the rest of the region. The Chenoua population experienced a sharp decline during French occupation, as it is estimated that their population was reduced down to a quarter. The region faced multiple insurrections in the early 1840s, notably with the campaigns of the Hadjout tribes, who reached the east of Algiers in the beginning of 1830.
The Chenoua Beni Menacer tribe, which extended from the east of Mostaganem to the west of Chlef to the south of Miliana, was one of the first Berber tribes to resist French colonization. The tribe had been superior in the mountainous landscape of the region and took advantage of Emir Abdelkader's fall to remain dominant. In response, French Marshal Thomas Robert Bugeaud led a military campaign into the region, and after two months of a siege, finally took control. Local tribes continued to resist, but with much less impact. By 1845, Bugeaud's forces began to use scorched-earth tactics in the Chenoua region. Across the Dahra Mountain Range region, French forces conducted the pacification campaigns. From 1841 1842, Bugeaud's scorched-earth tactics triggered to the Sabih fires, which burnt down several forests in the region. Around 1,500 died from these fires. The French army additionally used asphyxiation tactics to end local tribal resistance. Marshal Bugeaud was a primary user of asphyxiation tactics, ordering the mass suffocation of Chenoua in caves with smoke and fire, killing around 1,500 people. Chenoua revolutionary Malek El Berkani worked with the Kabyle to lead the 1870s Mokrani Revolt. European settlers seized land in the region's fertile valleys, which relocated many of the Chenoua to more urban areas.
During the Algerian War, the region of the Chenoua became an important stronghold for the National Liberation Army (FLN). The region's caves, ravines, and rough territory provided cover for the frequent ambushes against French forces. In response, the French fortified foothills and deployed blockades along coastal roads. named the "mother of martyrs," Zoulikha Oudai became the head of the FLN in the Cherchell sector. After being executed by French forces by being thrown from a helicopter, her legacy led to the author Assia Djebar composing the film The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoua.
Modern Algeria After immense arabization by the FLN, the Shenwa language was heavily marginalized and became limited to the elderly. Younger generations began to use Algerian Arabic in everyday conversation, marginalizing the language further. The 1980 Berber Spring protests, though not centered on the Chenoua, inspired the region's population. People began to document the language and its dialects, Tamazight was recognized as a national language, and Chenoua inclusion became possible after having gained official status in 2016.
Geography
The traditional territory of the Chenoua include Tipaza Province, parts of the Chlef Province and the north of Ain Defla Province. These three provinces are called in reference to the Mount Chenoua which dominates the city of Tipaza, 70 kilometres west of Algiers. Due to the area's mountainous and hilly terrain, the Chenoua have been able to widely preserve their culture and parts of their language, even with widespread arabization. Although they are mutually unintelligible, they closely neighbor the Kabyle to their east. Some call the Chenoua the "Chelhas of the Tell" or the "Kabyles of the West."
The region is part of the greater Dahra Region, a long mountainous region along the Mediterranean coast, separated from the Ouarsenis mountain range by the Chelif River. It extends from 8 kilometres north of Mostaganem to the Algiers Sahel, with its highest point being Mount Zaccar in Miliana. Mount Chenoua, which is 42 kilometres west of Algiers, marks the easternmost point of the Chenoua speaking region, while Ténès, 200 kilometres west of Algiers, marks the westernmost point, or even Ouled Boughalem depending on the source.
The people of the region have lived through several historic kingdoms and empires, including Masaesyli, Numidia, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate, Almohad Empire, the Zayyanid Kingdom, the Regency of Algiers, the French, and several other, smaller Berber kingdoms throughout history. During the spread of Islam, the mountains and rural landscape of the region provided cultural preservation for hundreds of years.
Culture
Language The Chenoua traditionally speak the Shenwa language (Berber: Haqbaylit or Haqbayləkt), a Northern Berber language. It is a part of the wider Afro-Asiatic language family and is a variation of Zenati Berber. The Shenwa language is concentrated along the Dahra Mountain Range, across Tipaza Province, parts of Chlef Province, and Ain Delfa Province. The Chenoua population largely speaks Arabic, although there are still speakers of the Shenwa language. There have been various movements to further revive the language and culture.
The Shenwa language has about 76,000 speakers, around 70.37% of 108,000, the least amount of the estimated Chenoua population.
Religion