Chaouia (Morocco)

The Chaouia (Arabic: الشاوية, romanized: Shāwiyya) is a plain and historical and ethno-geographical region of Morocco in the historical region of Tamesna. It is bounded by the Oum er-Rbi' River to its southwest, the Cherrate River to its northeast, the plain of Tadla to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest. The region covers a land area of nearly 14 000 km². The term also refers to a tribal confederation that traditionally inhabits the region.

Map of the Chaouia and its tribes

Etymology

The word "Chaouia" means "Land of Chaouis", transliterated in French. "Chaoui" (Arabic: شاوي, romanized: shāwī) is a word meaning "possessors of sheep" or "shepherds".^[1]

Geography

Geographically, the Chaouia can be divided into two sub-regions: low and high. The low Chaouia being the coastal part while the high Chaouia is further inland. Soils vary in fertility: The dark tirs^{[check spelling]} is prized for its high yields and is found among the Mdhakra, Ouled Hriz and Oulad said. There is also the red hamri terra rossa.

A farmer in a field of barley in the Chaouia, published August 15, 1917 in the magazine France-Maroc.

Throughout Morocco's history, the Chaouia was famous for farming wheat and barley, which were exported in years of abundance from Casablanca, Fédala or Azemmour. Chaouia sheep was also prized for its wool, which was also exported to Marseille where it was known as wardigha in reference to one of the tribes in the interior.

Nowadays, the Chaouia is part of the Casablanca-Settat administrative region.^[2][3][4]

History

Originally, the Chaouia was ruled by the Barghawata until it was annexed by the Almoravids,^[5] depopulating the area.^[6] After the Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min captured the town of Marrakesh in 1147, he encouraged the settlement of Bedouin Arab tribes in the area and the rest of the Moroccan coastal plains^[6] which were largely depopulated after the Almoravid conquest,^[6] including Banu Hilal, Banu Sulaym, and Banu Ma'qil,^[7] which led to a further extension of Arabic and an increased importance of Arab elements in the power equation of Morocco,^[6] to the point where no one could have ruled there without their co-operation.^[8]

A record of a letter in Portuguese aljamía—early Portuguese written in Arabic script—sent from Sheikh Yahya ben Bulisbé of the Shawiya to the King of Portugal, found in the archives of Torre do Tombo.^{[9][10][11]: 152}

Portuguese colonists called the region Enxovía.^[12] An undated letter sent from Sheikh Yahya ben Bulisbé (يحيى بن بلسباع) of the Shawiya to the King of Portugal indicates that the Sheikh cooperated with the Portuguese and that the sultans of Fes held tenuous authority in the region.^{[10][11]: 152}

The Saadi Sultan Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi occupied the region during the Battle of Alcácer Quibir and leveraged the mujahideen against his nephew Abu Abdallah Mohammed who had sought the support of the Portuguese.^[11]: 152

In the early 20th century, the Chaouia carried out a strong rebellion against the French.^[13] In 1907, the French bombarded Casablanca and entered the Chaouia region before extending their control over all of Morocco.^[14] During the French protectorate, the Chaouia was part of the "Autonomous subdivision of Casablanca". It was then divided into three civilians controls : Chaouia-North (Casablanca), Chaouia-Center (Berrechid) and Chaouia-South (Settat).

Tribal composition

Men from the Mdakra tribe

Arrest of Hajj Hammou [ar], qaid of the Oulad Hriz

The Chaouia (or Shawiya) tribes come from a variety of Arab and Berber origins, although today they are linguistically Arabized.^[15] A French survey of Moroccan tribes published in 1915 reported that all of these tribes claimed a pure Arab origin.^[16]: 267 The Chaouia tribal confederation traditionally consists of 14 Arabic-speaking tribes:

Tribe	Origin	Notes
Achach	Arab (Banu Sulaym)[16]: 157–190
Beni Meskin	Arab	Previously part of the Tadla confederacy, joined the Chaouia in the 19th century.
Mdakra	Arab (Ahlaf and Sabbah) and Berber (Hawwara)[16]: 117–156	Merged with a Barghawata original group.
Mediouna	Berber (Zenata)[16]: 15–23
Mzab	Berber (Zenata)[15]
Mzamza	Mainly Berber (Masmuda) origin, with some later Arab (Zughba) elements[16]: 266–267
Oulad Ali	Arab (Banu Ma'qil)[16]: 117–156
Oulad Bouziri	Berber (Sanhaja)[16]: 243–320
Oulad Hriz	Mainly Arab with Berber origins, due to subtribes[16]: 71–116
Oulad Saïd	Arab (Zughba, Banu Hilal)[16]: 191–242	Settled in the region during the Marinid era
Oulad Sidi Bendaoud	Mainly Berber (Sanhaja)[16]: 243–320
Oulad Zyan	Arab (Zughba, Banu Hilal)[16]: 24–29
Zenata	Berber (Zenata)[16]: 30–44
Zyayda	Arab