Arab-Berber

Arab-Berber (Arabic: العرب والبربر‎; French: Arabo-berbères) is a term to denote an inhabitant of the North African Maghreb who is of mixed Arab and Berber origin and whose native language is a dialect of Arabic or more specifically Maghrebi Arabic and who also has an Arab ethnic identity. The Arab-Berber identity came into being as a direct result of the Arab conquest of North Africa, and the subsequent colonization and intermarriage between the Arabian people who immigrated to those regions and local mainly Berber people; in addition, Banu Hilal and Sulaym Arab tribes originating in the Arabian Peninsula invaded the region and intermarried with the local mainly Berber populations, and were a major factor in the linguistic, cultural and ethnic Arabization of the Maghreb.

The Arab-Berber group has to be distinguished from the Arabized Berber groups, who have very little Arab ethnic background, or from the pure Arab Bedouin tribes in the Maghreb region, or from the pure Berber tribes in the Maghreb region. The Arabized Berber groups' genetic properties have dominantly Berber characteristics and little Arab characteristics, and could be found in Algeria and Morocco but the vernacular language has dominantly Arabic linguistic characteristics and is one of the many dialects of the Arabic language currently spoken within the Arab world.