Yoga retreats and yoga holidays - improve your yoga practice in Egypt & Morocco

About Morocco
Berbers: Morocco's original mountain people

Berbers are Morocco's original mountain people and today comprise about 30% of the population. Grouped into tribes, Berber lands have remained unconquered for much of Morocco's history – largely due to their impenetrable craggy homelands in the Atlas and Middle Atlas mountain ranges. Marrakech is the Berber capital: the pink city was originally a Berber trading centre camped astride the trading routes between the Sahara and Europe.

'Berber' commonly refers to the original light-skinned inhabitants of Morocco who retreated to the mountains during the 7th and 8th century conquests by Arabs. To a large degree the tribes resisted both Islam and Arabic: animist practices remain today and Berbers speak their own language: Shilha.

Life in the mountains remained feudal right up to the French 'pacification' of Morocco in the 1920s. Tribes were controlled by lords or 'caids' whose power stemmed from the control of the limited number of passes that split the mountains. Fortified Kasbahs formed the centre of these Berber strongholds – today many have been converted to accommodation but in their time they were almost impregnable.

The most famous of these caids, T'hami el Glaoui, derived his power from the early 1900s when the sultan or Morocco was trapped in a pass and was then forced to hand over control of Marrakech. Parties at 'el Glaoui's Marrakech palace became legendary: 'nothing was impossible,' wrote Gavin Maxwell – hashish and opium were freely available and gifts were eagerly awaited. Girls, Boys, gold or diamonds – nothing was outside the pashas benevolence. However his cruelty was also legendary - his harsh tax collection systems and murderous revenges meant that when he died – in 1956 – his palace was looted and his descendants lynched.

These days much of southern Morocco is Berber – and proud of it. Berber women are much freer than their Arab counterparts and go about largely unveiled (they're distinctive due to their bright blue eyes and pale skin). Shilha is widely spoken. Yet life in the mountains remains harsh: little of the wealth of the cities has transferred to these remote ranges and many still live a tough existence. Tradition resonates: animist practices are in evidence while Berber women continue inoculate against scorpion stings by feeding their babies tiny amounts of poison at the breast.

For more information on our On Hendrix's Trail Morocco holiday, click here