The Zaër are an Arab tribal confederacy of Maqil origins. For centuries, the Zaër practiced semi-nomadic pastoralism, traveling with the seasons to tend to the tribe's massive herds. The Zaër were divided between two tribal groups, the Kefiane in the west of the Zaër rangeland and the Mzar'a to the east. Despite the separation between the Zaër groups, their shared culture was nonetheless very isolated from other neighboring tribes due to their distinct linguistic, societal, and geographical differences.
According to tribal lore, the Zaër originally formed in what is now modern-day Mauritania, in the Red River region. However, pressure from larger tribes expelled the Zaër from their ancestral home into central Morocco. Following several decades of searching for a permanent home, one of the Zaër's more prominent leaders, Sidi Muhammad bin Ez-Za'ri, finally established the Zaër in the Korifle Gorge region adjacent to the Atlantic coastal plain, an area along in the highlands, the northern edge of the Sahara, and the southern High Atlas. Leo Africanus wrote in the early sixteenth century that they settled in the region of Khenifra, and later continued on to the north to the Rabat region.
The Zaër culture was almost completely demolished in the early twentieth century by the French protectorate in Morocco, which divided up the lands used by the Zaër for grazing and converted it for agricultural purposes. Infrastructure development of roads, highways, and towns for European settlers disrupted grazing routes, preventing the Zaër from making their traditional living. The French also sold land rights of Zaër rangeland to the highest bidder, resulting in thousands of acre of fertile Zaër land being sold to European agriculturalists. While many descendants of the Zaër still exist today, the Zaër are not a recognized ethnic group or tribe by the Moroccan government and do not exist as they did in their previous history.
Tribal Organization
Historically, the Zaër were organized as a loosely-organized nomadic confederacy, composed of a number of bands of tribes spread out over a wide range of territory consisting of over 377,000 hectares of land in central Morocco. The confederacy is composed of two primary tribal groups, or liffs: the Kefiane (English: Gefiane) and the Mzar'a (English: Meza'ra)
The Kefiane liff is settled in the western and southern part of the Confederacy's territory and is made of 7 tribes: Beni Obeid, Slamna, Uled Zeid, Uled Daho, Hlalef, Ruashed, and Mkhalef. The second liff, the Mzar'a, settled in the eastern part of the territory and is made of 6 tribes: Nejda, Uled Ali, Gsisset, Brashua, Uled Ktir, and Uled Khelifa. At their recorded peak, the Kefiane were thought to number at up to 19,200 tribesmen distributed between 3,820 tents, while the slightly larger Mzar'a were thought to have reached up to 21,300 tribesmen among 4,267 tents.
Traditional Community Structure
The Zaër have always been nomadic pastoralists, traditionally traveling seasonally in small communities, or douars, in search of grazing land for their flocks. During grazing seasons, the Zaër would live in douars of up to a few hundred people, remaining temporarily stationary throughout the rainy seasons; during the dry seasons, the Zaër would constantly migrate in search of grazing lands for their herds. The Zaër, like many nomadic groups, were known for their distinctive black tents, which functioned as the home and hearth for the family units who lived within them.
Within douars, collective ownership was divided among all pastoralists within the tribe, with ownership of lands assumed between all group members. Power and influence among the douars and between bands of groups within the Zaër's territory was determined by the size of the flock and the quality of the grazing land, with the largest flocks earning the douars the most influence among the Zaër groups. In addition to pastoralism, the Zaër were also known for their warlike tendencies, often engaging in frequent clashes with other tribes for influence and control over valuable grazing lands.
Zaër society was also organized along strict gender roles, with men taking on a traditional protectorate role with the expectations of protecting the women, preserving the honor of the family, joining war bands to raid other settlements and towns for goods and resources, and working to ensure the economic security of the family. Zaër women, on the other hand, were traditionally tasked with the general upkeep of the home unit, typically providing fuel and firewood, birthing and raising children, preserving the folklore and history of the Zaër, and maintaining the Zaër community as a whole.