Chiadma

The Chiadma region (Arabic: الشياظمة, romanized: al-Shyāḍma) is situated on the Atlantic coast of Morocco between Souira Guedima and Essaouira.

Etymology

The name Chiadma is of Arabic origin. It comes from the word shayḏ̣am (شيظم) or shayḏ̣amī (شيظميّ) with the plural shayāḏ̣ima (شياظمة) which literally means "tall, big, corpulent, great, burly, young" and can be applied to people and animals like horses and camels. Ultimately, the name derives from the root √sh-ḏ̣-m In the colloquial dialect, it lost the diphthong /ay/ and the phoneme /ḏ̣/ [ظ] became /ḍ/ [ض] resulting in the modern name. The name of the tribe became the toponym of the region. Historically, the region was known as Regraga before the arrival of Arab tribes in the 12th century in reference to a tribe that later became incorporated into the Chiadma tribe.

Tribal origin

The members of the Chiadma claim an Arab origin distinguishing themselves from the Haha who speak Shilha and who the Chiadma call shlūḥ. According to 20th century Moroccan historian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Kānūnī al-ʿAbdī [ar], they are a mix of multiple Arab tribes like Mudar and al-Harith with Maqil among them. Some fractions of the tribe also have Berber roots like Regraga and Heskala.

The first references to the Chiadma in historical sources began in the Saadi era. Some of the authors that mention the Chiadma from this period include Leo Africanus, Luis del Mármol Carvajal and Damião de Góis.

The 16th-century Spanish chronicler Luis del Mármol Carvajal recorded the Chiadma as "beréberes Cobeyles" (Berber tribes) who lived in douars [fr] (mobile tent-villages) like Arabs.^{[better source needed]} He writes :

Describing the 1510 siege of Safi, he records the tribal makeup of the league that laid siege to the city. He writes :

Researcher Dr. Felipe B. Francisco argued that Historians from the 16th century seem to confirm the Arab origin of the Chiadma because they used to distinguish between the Haha and the Arab tribes who used to live in their territory, and the Chiadma were among them, based on these passages :

Elcherit [Al-Ḥāriṯ] dwell upon the Heli plains in the company of the Saidima [Chiadma] and collect tribute from the people of Hea [Haha]. They are vile and poor people.

The ninth is called Vled el Querid [Al-Ḥāriṯ] and they dwell upon the Helin plains in the province of the Heha [Haha], which is located in the Kingdom of Morocco, in the company of Vled Saydima [Chiadma]. Although they were used to collect tribute from the Berber of that province, they were a vile and poorly armed people.

French orientalist Édouard Michaux-Bellaire [fr] argued that the Chiadma of Doukkala (east of Azemmour) were Arabized Berbers due to their usage of words borrowed from Berber languages like sārūt < tāsārūt ‘key’; mūka <tāmūkt ‘owl’; mūš < āmshīsh ‘cat’. This argument, however, is not convincing since these are common borrowings found in all Moroccan Arabic dialects, less common words such as tāġūlālt ‘little snail’; tārānīmt ‘reed’; and tāfōtna ‘Turkish bath’ could also be explained with contact with the Chtouka. Contemporary Moroccan authors affirmed their Arab origin, the first to claim this was Al-Kānūnī (1932) followed by Ar-Regrāgī (1935).

Territory

The Chiadma territory is divided into two regions. The western portion lies between the sacred mountain of Regraga, Djebel Hadid, and the Atlantic Ocean coastal plain of the Sahel. This area is known for its mariners, and its farmers raise garden crops, providing the local market with vegetables, fruits and fish. Olive oil, grain and livestock are produced in the eastern Kabla region.^{[citation needed]}

Language

The linguist Felipe Benjamin Francisco, based on data made up of four hours of speech, concluded that the speech of the Chiadma does not show relevant contact with the Shilha language despite their centuries long relationship with the Haha. The dialect that Fransisco investigated shared many features with the Hilalian dialect spoken in the Atlantic strip, ʕṛūbi. Francisco records an excerpt of a woman originating from the Chiadma territory specifically Aquermoud.

Alongside Darija several rural communes within the Chiadma region have notable Tachelhit-speaking populations, as of the 2024 census the numbers stood at : Meskala (42.8%), Ait Said (35.1%), Ounagha (19.2%), and Mouarid (14.5%). in 2014 the numbers were : Meskala (48.8%), Ait Said (46%), Ounagha (30.9%), and Mouarid (34.4%).

Traditions

Regraga

The Chiadma annually celebrate a 40-day pilgrimage, the Regraga, in spring. During these weeks, pilgrims visit a series of local shrines from the mouth of the Tensift river south of Safi to the northern outskirts of the High Atlas Mountains, and including the city of Essaouira itself. They are led by two groups on a round trip stopping at every shrine on the way. One group must dress at every shrine a holy tent made of fan palm fibres and dyed with henna, the other group arrives in a procession with a muqaddim (religious leader) riding a white horse.

Notable people

• Muhammad Zarqtuni, Moroccan nationalist and resistance leader
• Miloud Chaabi, businessman & billionaire

References