This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
| |
|---|---|
A girl from the Siwa ethnic group grinds salt with a hand crank. | |
| Total population | |
| c. 31,100 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| 30,000 | |
| 1,100 | |
| Languages | |
| Siwi, Egyptian Arabic, Libyan Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Berbers | |
The Siwi people or Siwan people (Berber languages: Isiwan; Arabic: سيويون), are a Berber ethnic group of about 30,000 native to Egypt's Siwa and Qara oases. They speak the Siwi language, a Berber language, spoken by about 20,000, along with Egyptian and Libyan Arabic. The Siwi are the easternmost concentration of Berbers.
The Siwi people are directly descended from the Banu Wasin tribe, which was part of the large Berber-speaking Zenata tribal confederation spread throughout the Maghreb.