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{{Short description|Medieval Berber tribal confederation}}
{{Infobox tribe
| name = Zenata
| local name = ''Iznaten, Zenata, Zanata''
| type = Berber tribal confederation
| ethnicity = [[Berbers]]
| location = [[Maghreb]]
| parent_tribe = 
| branches = [[Maghrawa]], [[Banu Ifran]], Banu Wasin, Djarawa
| language = [[Zenati languages]] ([[Berber languages]])
| religion = [[Islam]] 
| image =
}}

The '''Zenata''' ({{Langx|ber|ⵉⵣⵏⴰⵜⵏ|Iznaten}}; {{Langx|ar|زناتة|Zanāta}}) are a group of [[Berbers|Berber]] tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the [[Sanhaja]] and [[Masmuda]].<ref name="Ilahiane-2006">{{Cite book |last=Ilahiane |first=Hsain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRYuDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA230 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen) |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780810864900 |pages=230–231 |language=en |chapter=Zanata}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Nelson|first=Harold D.|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001298165|title=Morocco, a country study|publisher=The American University.|year=1985|series=Area handbook series|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=14}}</ref> Their lifestyle was either [[nomad]]ic<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UgQMX0kELGAC|title=Ethnicities, Community Making, and Agrarian Change: The Political Ecology of a Moroccan Oasis|last=Ilahiane|first=Hsain|date=2004|publisher=University Press of America|pages=44|isbn=9780761828761|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WB50sqpZKk8C|title=A History of Libya|last=Wright|first=John|date=2012|publisher=Hurst|pages=48|isbn=9781849042277|language=en}}</ref> or semi-nomadic.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/camed_0395-9317_1998_num_56_1_1216.pdf |title= Perception de la limite et de la frontière au Maghreb de l'Antiquité à la contemporanéité nomade|last=Romey|first=Alain|date=1998|publisher=Cahiers de la Méditerranée|pages=29–38|language=fr}}</ref>

==Society==
The 14th-century historiographer [[Ibn Khaldun]] reports that the Zenata were divided into three large tribes: [[Jarawa (Berber tribe)|Jarawa]], [[Maghrawa]], and [[Banu Ifran]]. Formerly occupying a large portion of the [[Maghreb]], they were displaced to the south and west in conflicts with the more powerful [[Kutama]] and [[Houara]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The Zenata adopted [[Islam]] early, in the 7th century. While other Berber tribes continued to resist the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] conquest well into the 8th century, they were quickly Islamized.<ref>"The disappearance of Zenata to the eighth century, them covering a quarter of [[North Africa]], is one of the most extraordinary facts the [[Tamazgha]] has ever known." ''Les oasis du Gourara (Sahara algérien) Par Rachid Bellil'', (1999), p.77</ref> They also formed a substantial contingent in the subsequent [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Muslim conquest of Iberia]].<ref name="Ilahiane-2006" />

== Language ==
As Berbers, the Zenata spoke one of the [[Berber languages]]. [[Ibn Khaldun]] wrote that their dialect was distinct from other Berber dialects.<ref name="Hames-2012">{{Cite book|last=Hamès|first=C.|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|publisher=Brill|year=2012|editor-last=Bearman|editor-first=P.|chapter=Zanāta|editor-last2=Bianquis|editor-first2=Th.|editor-last3=Bosworth|editor-first3=C.E.|editor-last4=van Donzel|editor-first4=E.|editor-last5=Heinrichs|editor-first5=W.P.}}</ref> French linguist [[Edmond Destaing]] in 1915 proposed "[[Zenati languages|Zenati]]" as a loose subgrouping within the [[Northern Berber languages]], including [[Riffian language|Riffian Berber]] in northeastern Morocco and [[Shawiya language|Shawiya Berber]] in northeastern Algeria.<ref>Edmond Destaing, "[http://www.aravr.org/telechargements/ESSAI_DE_CLASSIFICATION_des_dialectes_berbere_au_Maroc.pdf Essai de classification des dialectes berbères du Maroc] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904063033/http://www.aravr.org/telechargements/ESSAI_DE_CLASSIFICATION_des_dialectes_berbere_au_Maroc.pdf |date=September 4, 2011 }}", ''Etudes et Documents Berbères'' 19-20, 2001-2002 (1915).
Edmond Destaing, "Note sur la conjugaison des verbes de forme C1eC2", ''Mémoires de la Société Linguistique de Paris'', 22 (1920/3), pp. 139-148</ref>

== Origins ==
The history of the Zenata before the [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|Muslim conquests]] remains largely unknown, as they are primarily documented through Arabic sources. The term Zenata itself is relatively late and has no known roots in [[ancient history|antiquity]] before the conquests.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Modéran |first=Yves |url=https://books.openedition.org/efr/1416 |title=Les Maures et l’Afrique romaine (IVe-VIIe siècle) |publisher=Publications de l’École française de Rome |year=2003 |isbn=9782728306404 |pages=203 |language=fr |quote=Des Zénètes ne sont attestés au Maghreb que dans les sources arabes, et leur présence peut donc toujours résulter de déplacements postérieurs à la conquête. Mais surtout, comme pour les Lawâta, il paraît extrêmement aventureux de fonder des raisonnements sur la mention au milieu du Moyen Âge de telle ou telle « fraction » zénète, en ignorant tout du passé des groupes ainsi sélectionnés, et en négligeant la possibilité d’une affiliation onomastique purement fictive. Comme nous le verrons dans la dernière partie de ce livre, les premiers Zénètes formaient une tribu ou une confédération seulement implantée en Tripolitaine à la fin du viie siècle, mais qui, en s’intégrant tôt à l’armée arabe, a joui ensuite d’un prestige et d’une puissance qui ont suscité bien des ralliements onomastiques. Le succès ultérieur de leur nom, et la définition d’une « race » zénatienne » sont donc de toute évidence des phénomènes propres à l’histoire du Maghreb arabe, qui n’ont aucune racine dans l’Antiquité, même très tardive, et ne peuvent fonder une théorie des migrations appliquée à cette époque.}}</ref> As historian Yves Modéran has argued, this makes it an unreliable basis for theories of [[immigration|migration]] in earlier periods. Their presence may therefore have resulted from movements that occurred after the conquest. The mentions of specific Zenata factions in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] sources is uncertain when it comes to their history or the possibility that their affiliation was just in name rather than in origin.<ref name=":0" /> Hsain Ilahiane states that by the time of the Muslim conquests, the Zenata ranged between  [[Tripolitania]] in present-day [[Libya]] and present-day southern [[Tunisia]].<ref name="Ilahiane-2006" /> According to Modéran, the earliest known Zenata groups formed a tribe or confederation that established itself in Tripolitania by the late 7th century and was quickly integrated into the Arab military forces.<ref name=":0" /> In later periods, groups identified as Zenata moved steadily west, where they settled in western [[Algeria]] near [[Tiaret]] and [[Tlemcen]], while some of them moved still further west to [[Morocco]].<ref name="Ilahiane-2006" />

==Political history==
The Zenata dominated the politics of the western [[Maghreb]] (Morocco and western Algeria) in two different periods: in the 10th century, during the decline of the [[Idrisid dynasty|Idrisids]], as proxies for either the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid Caliphs]] or the [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Umayyad Caliphs of Cordoba]], and in the 13th to 16th centuries with the rise of the [[Zayyanid dynasty]] in Algeria and the [[Marinid dynasty|Marinids]] and [[Wattasid dynasty|Wattasids]] in Morocco, all from Zenata tribes.<ref name="Hames-2012" /> Today, most of the Berbers of the [[Rif]] region are believed to be of Zenata ancestry.<ref name="Ilahiane-2006" />
=== 8th–11th centuries ===
{{Further|Maghrawa|Banu Ifran}}
In the early Islamic period of Morocco, Berber groups and tribes dominated the politics of the region well after the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]]. The Zenata confederation did too. A Zenata chieftain, [[Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati]], was a leading figure in the Berber revolt of 740 against the [[Arabs|Arab]] [[Umayyad Caliphate]], and led Berber rebels to major victories in the [[Battle of the Nobles]] and the [[Battle of Bagdoura]].<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987">{{Cite book|last=Abun-Nasr|first=Jamil|title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|isbn=0521337674|location=Cambridge}}</ref>{{Rp|38}}<ref name="Blankinship-1994">{{The End of the Jihad State}}</ref>{{Rp|212}} While the Umayyads managed to defeat the rebels eventually and reassert some of their authority, the westernmost parts of the Maghreb, including what is now Morocco, remained outside of Arab caliphal rule.<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" /><ref name="Blankinship-1994" />{{Rp|207}} In this vacuum, various principalities arose in the region, such as the [[Midrarid dynasty|Midrarid Emirate]] in eastern Morocco, led by a Zenata [[Miknasa]] tribe,<ref name="Bosworth-2004">{{Cite book|last=Bosworth|first=Clifford Edmund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKpz_2CkoWEC&q=new+islamic+dynasties|title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780748621378}}</ref> to which the foundation of the city of [[Sijilmasa]] is attributed.<ref>{{EI2 | last = Pellat | first = Ch. | title = Midrār | volume = 6 | pages = 1038–1042 | doi =10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5181}}</ref><ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|49}}

In 868, under the leadership of the Abd al-Razzaq, the Berber [[Khariji]] [[Sufri]] tribes of Madyuna, Ghayata and Miknasa formed a common front against the Idrisids of Fez. From their base in [[Sefrou]] they were able to defeat [[Ali ibn Umar]] and occupy Fez. The city's inhabitants refused to submit, however, and the Idrisid [[Yahya ibn al-Qasim|Yahya III]] was able to retake the city.<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|52}}<ref name="Eustache-1971">{{EI2 | last = Eustache | first = D. | title = Idrīsids | volume = 3 | pages = 1035–1037 | doi =10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3495}}</ref> Starting in the early 10th century, however, the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]] in the east began to intervene in present-day Morocco, hoping to expand their influence, and used the Miknasa as proxies and allies in the region. In 917 the Miknasa and its leader Masala ibn Habus, acting on behalf of their Fatimid allies, attacked Fez and forced [[Yahya ibn Idris ibn Umar|Yahya IV]] to recognize Fatimid suzerainty, before deposing him in 919<ref name="Eustache-1971" /><ref name="Bosworth-2004" /> or 921.<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|63}} He was succeeded by his cousin Musa ibn Abul 'Afiya, who had already been given charge over the rest of the country. The Idrisid [[Hassan I al-Hajam]] managed to wrest control of Fez from 925 but in 927 Musa returned, captured Hassan and killed him, marking the last time the Idrisids held power in Fez.<ref name="Eustache-1971" /> Thereafter Fez remained under Zenata control.<ref name="Le Tourneau-1949">{{Cite book|last=Le Tourneau|first=Roger|title=Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman|publisher=Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition|year=1949|location=Casablanca}}</ref>{{Rp|50}} The Miknasa pursued the Idrisids to the fortress of [[Hajar an-Nasar|Hajar an-Nasr]] in northern Morocco, but soon afterwards civil war broke out among the Miknasa when Musa switched allegiance to the [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Umayyads of Cordoba]] in 931 in an attempt to gain more independence. The Fatimids sent Humayd ibn Yasal (or Hamid<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />), the nephew of Masala ibn Habus, to confront Musa, defeating him in 933 and forcing him to fall back into line.<ref name="Eustache-1971" /><ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|63}} Once the Fatimids were gone, however, Musa once again threw off their authority and recognized the Umayyad caliph. The Fatimids sent their general Maysur to confront him again, and this time he fled. He was pursued and killed by the Idrisids.<ref name="Eustache-1971" /> The latter preserved a part of their realm in northern Morocco until the Umayyads finally ended their rule definitively in 985.<ref name="Eustache-1971" /> The Umayyads in turn kept control over northern Morocco until their caliphate's collapse in the early 11th century. Following this, Morocco was dominated by various Zenata Berber tribes.<ref name="Rivet-2012">{{Cite book|last=Rivet|first=Daniel|title=Histoire du Maroc: de Moulay Idrîs à Mohammed VI|publisher=Fayard|year=2012}}</ref>{{Rp|91}}<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|82}} Until the rise of the [[Sanhaja]] [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]] later in the century, the [[Maghrawa]] controlled [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], [[Sijilmasa]] and [[Aghmat]] while the [[Banu Ifran]] ruled over Tlemcen, [[Salé]] (Chellah), and the [[Tadla]] region.<ref name="Rivet-2012" />{{Rp|91}}

=== 13th–16th centuries ===
{{Further|Marinid Sultanate|Kingdom of Tlemcen}}
In the 13th century the Banu Marin ({{Langx|ar|بنو مرين}}), a Zenata tribe, rose to power in Morocco.<ref>{{cite web|title=Marinid dynasty (Berber dynasty) - Encyclopædia Britannica|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/365388/Marinid-dynasty|access-date=2014-02-24|publisher=Britannica.com}}</ref><ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987-103">{{Cite book|last=Abun-Nasr|first=Jamil|title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|isbn=0521337674|location=Cambridge|pages=103–118}}</ref> Starting in 1245 they began overthrowing the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]] who had controlled the region.<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|103}} At the height of their power in the mid-14th century, during the reigns of [[Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman|Abu al-Hasan]] and his son [[Abu Inan Faris|Abu Inan]], the Marinid dynasty briefly held sway over most of the [[Maghreb]] including large parts of modern-day Algeria and [[Tunisia]].<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987-103" /> They supported the [[Emirate of Granada]] in [[al-Andalus]] in the 13th and 14th centuries; an attempt to gain a direct foothold on the [[Europe]]an side of the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] was however defeated at the [[Battle of Río Salado]] in 1340 and finished after the [[Crown of Castile|Castilians]] [[Siege of Algeciras (1342–44)|took Algeciras]] from the Marinids in 1344, definitively expelling them from the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Niane, D.T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpjwF--kPL4C&q=algeciras+siege+1344+marinids&pg=PA91|title=''General History of Africa''|date=1981|isbn=9789231017100|volume=IV|page=91|access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref> In contrast to their predecessors, the Marinids sponsored [[Maliki]] [[Sunni Islam|Sunnism]] as the official religion and made [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] their capital.<ref>Ira M. Lapidus, ''Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History'', (Cambridge University Press, 2012), 414.</ref><ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987-103" /> Under their rule, Fez enjoyed a relative golden age.<ref name="Le Tourneau-1949"/> The Marinids also pioneered the construction of [[madrasa]]s across the country which promoted the education of Maliki ''[[ulama]]'', although [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[sheikh]]s increasingly predominated in the countryside.<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987-103" />

Starting in the early 15th century the [[Wattasid dynasty]], a related ruling house, competed with the Marinid dynasty for control of their state and became ''[[de facto]]'' rulers of Morocco between 1420 and 1459 while officially acting as [[regent]]s or [[vizier]]s. In 1465 the last Marinid sultan, [[Abd al-Haqq II]], was finally overthrown and killed by a [[1465 Moroccan revolt|revolt in Fez]], which led to the establishment of direct Wattasid rule over most of Morocco. The Wattasid sultans in turn lasted until the mid-16th century, when they were finally overthrown by the [[Saadi Sultanate|Saadians]], who inaugurated the beginning of Arab [[Sharif]]ian rule over Morocco (which continues under the present-day [[Alaouite dynasty]]).<ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987-103" /><ref name="Bosworth-2004"/>

Meanwhile, around the same time as the Marinids, the Zenata<ref>{{Cite web|title=Algeria - Zayanids|url=http://countrystudies.us/algeria/12.htm|access-date=2016-07-22|website=countrystudies.us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Abd al-Wadid Dynasty {{!}} Berber dynasty|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abd-al-Wadid-dynasty|access-date=2016-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Appiah|first1=Anthony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0XNvklcqbwC|title=Encyclopedia of Africa|last2=Gates|first2=Henry Louis|date=2010-01-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195337709|language=en}}</ref> [[Zayyanid dynasty]] (also known as the Abd al-Wadids) ruled over the [[Kingdom of Tlemcen]] in northwestern Algeria, centered on [[Tlemcen]]. The territory stretched from Tlemcen to the [[Chelif River|Chelif bend]] and [[Algiers]]. At its zenith, the kingdom reached the [[Moulouya]] river to the west, [[Sijilmasa]] to the south, and the [[Soummam River|Soummam river]] to the east.<ref>[http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=603&lang=en The Abdelwadids (1236–1554)], on qantara-med.org</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Simon|first=Jacques|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V31-r9820IQC&pg=PA175|title=L'Algérie au passé lointain: de Carthage à la régence d'Alger|date=1 August 2017|publisher=Harmattan|isbn=9782296139640|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Zayyanid dynasty's rule lasted from 1235 until 1556, when their rule, under pressure from the [[Spain|Spanish]] in [[Oran]] and the Saadians in Morocco, was finally ended by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]].<ref>Phillip Chiviges Naylor, ''North Africa: a history from antiquity to the present'', (University of Texas Press, 2009), 98.</ref><ref name="Bosworth-2004" /><ref name="Abun-Nasr-1987" />{{Rp|157}}

Zanata tribesmen also played a role as [[light cavalry]] in the armies of the [[Emirate of Granada]]. This gave rise to the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] term ''[[jinete]]'' (derived from the name 'Zenata'), which denoted this type of light cavalry.<ref name="Kennedy-1996">{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Hugh|title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus|publisher=Routledge|year=1996|isbn=9781317870418|location=|pages=282–283}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrMG-LfuU7oC&dq=zanata+jinete&pg=PA159|title=Moorish Spain|publisher=University of California Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-520-24840-3|pages=159|language=en}}</ref> They formed the backbone of the Granadan army, serving both in crucial battles as well as in regular [[Raid (military)|raids]] inside Christian territory.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harvey|first=L.P.|title=Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500|publisher=University of Chigaco Press|year=1990|isbn=0226319628|pages=230}}</ref><ref name="Kennedy-1996" /> They were highly mobile on the field, armed with [[lance]]s, [[javelin]]s, and small round [[shield]]s known for their flexibility, and used their own characteristic set of tactics.<ref name="Kennedy-1996" /><ref name="Echevarria-2009">{{Cite book|last=Echevarria|first=Ana|title=Knights on the Frontier: The Moorish Guard of the Kings of Castile (1410-1467)|publisher=Brill|year=2009|isbn=978-90-47-42441-3|pages=99, 114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Callaghan|first=Joseph F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOiAzwEJgaYC&dq=zanata+jinete&pg=PA226|title=The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8122-0463-6|pages=226|language=en}}</ref> They were recruited and led by exiled members of the Marinid family and settled within the kingdom of Granada. Their Marinid commander was known as the ''shaykh al-ghuzāt'' ('chief of the ''[[Ghazi (warrior)|ghazis]]''<nowiki/>'), but in 1374 Muhammad V suppressed this office due to their political interference, after which they were commanded by a Nasrid or Andalusi general.<ref name="Kennedy-1996" /> They also served as mercenaries in the armies of [[Christians|Christian]] kingdoms such as [[Crown of Castile|Castile]]<ref name="Echevarria-2009" /> or as [[auxiliaries]] sent by the Nasrid emirs of Granada to aid their Castilian allies.<ref name="Kennedy-1996" />

==See also==
* [[Numidia]]
* [[Dihya]]
* [[Zanata Stone]]
*[[Su'da]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Zenata}}
* {{cite web | url=http://www.mondeberbere.com/civilisation/gourara/gourara.htm | title=Les Zénètes du Gourara d'hier à aujourd'hui (Sahara Zenatas) | access-date=December 9, 2012 | author=Rachid Bellil, Université d'Alger}}
* {{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHh5plYLhHEC | title=Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict | access-date=December 9, 2012 | author=Norman Roth| year=1994 | isbn=9004099719 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{Berber}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenata People}}
[[Category:Zenata| ]]
[[Category:Berber peoples and tribes]]
[[Category:African nomads]]
[[Category:Berbers in Algeria]]
[[Category:Berbers in Morocco]]
[[Category:Berbers in Tunisia]]