The Sanhaja (Arabic: صنهاجة, romanized: Ṣanhāja, or زناگة Znāga; Berber languages: Aẓnag, pl. Iẓnagen, and also Aẓnaj, pl. Iẓnajen) were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations, along with the Zanata and Masmuda confederations. Many tribes in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia and Western Sahara bore and still carry this ethnonym, especially in its Berber form.
Other names for the population include Zenaga, Znaga, Sanhája, Sanhâdja and Senhaja.
Beni Ḥassan (Arabic: بني حسان "sons of Ḥassān") is a Bedouin Arab tribe which inhabits Western Sahara, Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria. It is one of the four sub-tribes of the Banu Maqil who emigrated in the 11th century from South Arabia to the Maghreb with the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym Arab tribes. In the 13th century, they took the Sanhaja territories in the southwest of the Sahara. In Morocco, they first settled, alongside their Maqil relatives, in the area between Tadla and the Moulouya River. The Sous Almohad governor called upon them for help against a rebellion in the Sous, and they resettled in and around that region. They later moved to what is today Mauritania, and from the 16th century onwards, they managed to push back all black peoples southwards to the Senegal Valley river. The Beni Hassan and other warrior Arab tribes dominated the Sanhaja Berber tribes of the area after the Char Bouba war of the 17th century. As a result, Arabs became the dominant ethnic group in Western Sahara and Mauretania. The Bani Hassan dialect of Arabic became used in the region and is still spoken, in the form of Hassaniya Arabic. The hierarchy established by the Beni Hassan tribe gave Mauritania much of its sociological character. That ideology has led to oppression, discrimination and even enslavement of other groups in Mauritania.
The Sahrawis, or Sahrawi people (Arabic: صحراويون ṣaḥrāwīyūn; Spanish: saharauis), are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Sahara desert, which includes the Western Sahara, southern Morocco, much of Mauritania, and along the southwestern border of Algeria. They are of mixed Hassani Arab and Sanhaji Berber descent, as well as West African and other indigenous populations.
As with most peoples living in the Sahara, the Sahrawi culture is a mix of Arab and indigenous African elements. Sahrawis are composed of many tribes and are largely speakers of the Hassaniya dialect of Arabic.
The Zenata (Berber languages: ⵉⵣⵏⴰⵜⵏ, romanized: Iznaten; Arabic: زناتة, romanized: Zanāta) are a group of Berber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
The Lamtuna (Berber languages: Ilemteyen) are a nomadic Berber tribe belonging to the Iẓnagen / Sanhaja (Zenaga) confederation, who traditionally inhabited areas from Sous to Adrar Plateau. During the Almoravid period, many Lamtunas emigrated northwards. Currently, the Lemtuna Tribe is based in the South of Mauritania (Monguel and Agueilat). The chief of this Tribe is Mr. Limam Ould Teguedi (former Minister of Justice, former Minister of Culture and former Attorney General of Mauritania). Among notable families are the family of Ehl Aly Ibn Ibrahim, the family of Ehel Sidelemine, Ehl Abdawa, Ehl Mohamed El-Emine and Ehl Mohammed Ghali. Sahrawi Tajakant as well as Messouma tribes are of the most recognisable offshoots of the Lamtunas. They inhabit areas in Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Western Sahara. The Banu Ghaniya, the successors of this dynasty in Tripoli and the Nafusa Mountains and the governors of the Spanish Balearic Islands until about the middle of the 13th century, originated from this tribe as well.
One of the members of the Sanhaja confederation, the Lamtuna inhabited the areas of Adrar and Tagant. During the 11th century, the Lamtuna, Godala, and Masufa tribes were united under the Lamtuna leader, Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat (Tarsina). After Tarsina's death his successor Yahya ibn Ibrahim, of the Godala tribe, married a member of the Urtantac family that governed the Lamtuna, expanding both his personal influence and that of the family. The Lamtuna sat at the top of the ruling class as well as holding positions in important administrative and military posts in the Almoravid dynasty. After Abdallah ibn Yasin's death in 1059 Almoravid leadership was assumed by the chief of the Lamtuna, Abu Bakr ibn Umar, who fought against rebels in Mauritania in 1060. His cousin, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, continued to lead the Almoravids in southern Morocco and it was under his leadership that most of the Maghreb and Al-Andalus was conquered.
The Massufa are a Berber tribe whom belong to the Sanhaja. The ancestor of the Massufa, Adjana, had settled near the Chelif river in the central Maghreb. The Massufa are identifiable with the Masofi (Massufa) and their territory, known as “Bilad Massufa” (country of the Massufa) was located in the eastern region of Jebel Titteri during the Severan era (3rd century AD). This important tribal confederation were ruled by the Talkata branch, that of the Zirids in the 10th century.
A number of Berber tribes fled southward during the Arab invasion. The Massufa are listed among the Sanhaja tribes who were displaced from the north. Ibn Khaldun commented on these tribes and stated that the Sanhaja are indigenous people of the region and placed the kings of the Lamtuna and Massufa in the meeting of the middle Maghreb, he also mentioned that the Massufa were present in the Gourara.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin, also Tashafin, Teshufin, (Arabic: يوسف بن تاشفين ناصر الدين بن تالاكاكين الصنهاجي, romanized: Yūsuf ibn Tāshfīn Naṣr al-Dīn ibn Tālākakīn al-Ṣanhājī; reigned c. 1061 – 1106) was a Sanhaja leader of the Almoravid Empire. He cofounded the city of Marrakesh and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Sagrajas.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin came to al-Andalus from the Maghreb to help the Muslims fight against Alfonso VI of León, eventually achieving victory in Sagrajas and promoting an Islamic legal system in the region. In 1061 he took the title Amir al-Muslimin "Leader of the Muslims", recognizing the suzerainty of the Abbasid caliph as Amir al-Mu'minin "Leader of the Believers".
The Masmuda (Arabic: المصمودة, romanized: Maṣmūda, Berber: ⵉⵎⵙⵎⵓⴷⵏ) is a Berber tribal confederation , one of the largest in the Maghreb, along with the Zenata and the Sanhaja. Today, the Masmuda confederacy largely corresponds to the speakers of the Tashelhit language. The Masmuda are related to the Schleuh people and are also considered to be one of the ancestors of the Schleuhs
Buluggin ibn Ziri, often transliterated Bologhine, in full ʾAbū al Futūḥ Sayf ad Dawlah Bulukīn ibn Zīrī ibn Manād aṣ Ṣanhājī (Arabic: أبو الفتوح سيف الدولة بلكين بن زيري بن مناد الصنهاجي; died 25 May 984) was the first leader (r. 972–984) of the Sanhaja Berber dynasty of Zirids to serve as viceroy of Ifriqiya under the Fatimid Caliphs, founding a dynasty that continued to rule the region after him.
Bologhine, a suburb in the city of Algiers, is named after him.