Moroccan people

The Moroccan people (Arabic: المغاربة al-Magharibah, Berber: ⵉⵎⵖⵕⴰⴱⵉⵢⵏ Imɣṛabiyen) are a people that share a common Moroccan culture and ancestry.

In addition to the 33 million Moroccans in Morocco, there are large migrant populations of Moroccan origins in France, Belgium, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and smaller groups in United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Arabian Peninsula and in other Arab states.

Berber genetic identity

Moroccans primarily descend from Berbers, Arabized Berbers and Haratin/Gnawa, like other neighboring Maghrebans. As such, Berbers are descendants of the prehistoric populations of Morocco via the Iberomaurusians and Capsians.

The Afroasiatic family may have originated in the Mesolithic period, perhaps in the context of the Capsian culture. By 5000 BC, the populations of Morocco were an amalgamation of Ibero-Maurisian and a minority of Capsian stock blended with a more recent intrusion associated with the Neolithic revolution. Out of these populations, the proto-Berber tribes formed during the late Paleolithic era.