The Aït Atta

The components of the confederation

The five “fifths” (khmas) described by the sources, presented at the same level. How rich an entry is depends on the sources available, not on the importance of the group.

1. Khoms 1

   Khoms of the Aït Ouallal and Aït Ounir

   2 tribes · 1,600 households (1936)

   First of the five khmas in Spillmann's table. It brings together two tribes that tradition calls “sisters” and that the officer counts, with the Aït Ouahlim, among the oldest of the confederation. They hardly get on and now fight only in the Draa, where the Aït Ounir of Tinzouline and Ternata oppose the Imsoufa of Fezwata. Together they make up the bulk of the Aït Atta n'Oumalou of the Middle Atlas.

2. Khoms 2

   Khoms of the Aït Ouahlim

   4 tribes · 2,200 households (1930)

   The most populous of the five khmas around 1930. Beaurpère's table (1930) divides it into two groupings, Aït Zemro and Aït Hasso; according to Spillmann, the Aït Atta rather divided it into three “thirds”. With the Aït Ounir and Aït Ouallal it formed the oldest core of the confederation and was long its dominant khoms; Spillmann describes it as weakened since the late nineteenth century by internal divisions and by pressure from the other khmas, to the point of having ceded qsour in the Draa to the Aït Isfoul. An in-depth page is devoted to it.

   In-depth dossier →

3. Khoms 3

   Khoms of the Aït Isfoul and Aït Alouane

   2 tribes · 1,100 households (1936)

   Third khoms of Spillmann's table. The Aït Isfoul, the youngest of the great tribes and still united around a common sheikh around 1930, protect the Aït Alouane, who could not have held on without them. Their centre of gravity is the Ktaoua, in the Draa, a land of recent conquest.

4. Khoms 4

   Khoms of the Aït Yazza (Aït ʿAïsa Mzin)

   3 tribes · 1,400 households (1936)

   Fourth khoms. Spillmann names it after its main tribe, the Aït Yazza, with the Aït Khalifa and the Aït El Fersi; Hart calls it the khoms of the Aït ʿAïsa Mzin (1984, p. 11), and Spillmann's translator adds to it, following Hart, the Aït Kherdi. When this khoms's turn came, only the Aït Yazza supplied the amghar n-ufilla.

5. Khoms 5

   Khoms of the Aït Ounebgui

   2 tribes · 1,200 households (1936)

   Fifth khoms, in the east of the confederation: the Aït Khebbach, former great Saharan nomads, and the Aït Oumnasf of the Rteb and the Ougnat. The Aït Ounebgui had their own banner, green according to some, blue according to others (Spillmann, after La Chapelle). Hart writes that the hostility of the Aït Yazza and Aït Ounebgui towards the conquest was “proverbial” (1984, p. 180).