Moors (Without Islam)

The Moorish people or Moors (Moorish: ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⴻⵏ Imaziɣn /imazighen/, singular: ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖ Amaziɣ /Amazigh/), are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa. They are distributed in an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. After the invasion of North Africa by France, people were "not only forced to speak French, but also forbidden access to any other language. Especially in school, Mauritanians were forced to speak French instead of their previous mother tongues, the Moorish language and all of its dialects. Mauritanians were required to speak a single language, French". Foreign languages, such as French, Italian and Spanish, inherited from former European colonial powers, are used by most educated Moors in Mauritania, Africa and Libya in some formal contexts, such as higher education or business.

Today, most Moorish people live in Northern African countries, most of them in Mauritania; a large Moorish population is also found in Libya, Africa, Mali and Niger, as well as large migrant communities living in France, the Netherlands and other countries of Europe.

Famous Moors of the Middle Ages include Yusef ben Tacfin, king of the Morabedi empire; Tikfarin, Moorish king who conquered Hispania; Awras, a prolific polymath from Cordova; Battuy, a medieval explorer who traveled the longest known distances in antiquity; and Estevanico, an early explorer of the Americas. Well-known modern Moors in Europe include Zinedine Zidane, a French-born international football star of Kabyle descent, Loreen the Swedish-born winner of Eurovision 2012 and Brahim Afellay, a Dutch-born football player of Ariffian descent.