Skip to content
SAGHRO

The Aït Atta

The confederation and its sections

Five “fifths” (khmas), their tribes and sections, as described by dated sources. Classifications vary between authors and periods: each is given with its reference.

Nomad camp in the mountains (1955) — Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam), CC BY-SA 3.0

The confederation divides into five khmas, then into tribes (taqbilt), lineages (ighs, plural ighsan) and families. The table below follows Spillmann's (situation at the end of 1930), supplemented by Lieutenant Beaurpère's command table (1930) for the Aït Ouahlim and by Hart (fieldwork in the 1960s).

The authors do not always agree: Hart names the fourth khoms “Aït ʿAïsa Mzin” where Spillmann calls it after the Aït Yazza; the Aït Kherdi are a section of the Aït Hasso in Beaurpère and belong to the fourth khoms according to Hart. These differences are shown on each page. The officers' judgements on the “character” of the tribes are not repeated.

  1. Khoms 1

    Khoms of the Aït Ouallal and Aït Ounir

    1,600 households

    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.

    3 documented figures

  2. Khoms 2

    Khoms of the Aït Ouahlim

    2,200 households

    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.

    5 documented figures

  3. Khoms 3

    Khoms of the Aït Isfoul and Aït Alouane

    1,100 households

    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)

    1,400 households

    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.

    1 documented figures

  5. Khoms 5

    Khoms of the Aït Ounebgui

    1,200 households

    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).

    1 documented figures

Comparing the classifications

Each author describes the fifths at a given date, with their own names and their own figures. These descriptions do not always match: they are shown side by side, not merged into one.

Spillmann (2007)

آيت عطا الصحراء وتهدئة أفلاً ن. درا

1. Khoms of the Aït Ouallal and Aït Ounir
Table of the five khmas, situation at the end of 1930. (trad. p. 61 (orig. p. 74))
2. Khoms of the Aït Ouahlim
Three “thirds”: Aït Bou Iknifen and Aït Aïssa ou Brahim; Ilemchan and Ignaouen; Aït Hassou. (trad. p. 67 (orig. p. 82))
3. Khoms of the Aït Isfoul and Aït Alouane
Table of the five khmas, situation at the end of 1930. (trad. p. 61 (orig. p. 74))
4. Khoms of the Aït Yazza (Aït ʿAïsa Mzin)
Table of the five khmas, situation at the end of 1930. (trad. p. 61 (orig. p. 74)) The translator follows Hart for the khoms's name and adds the Aït Kherdi. (trad. p. 74, 76, n. 17 et 22 du traducteur)
5. Khoms of the Aït Ounebgui
Table of the five khmas, situation at the end of 1930. (trad. p. 61 (orig. p. 74))

Spillmann (1936)

Nomadisme et sédentarisation en Pays Aït-Atta

1. Khoms of the Aït Ouallal and Aït Ounir
“Aït-Ounir — Aït-Ouallal”, about 1,600 hearths in 1936. (p. 97)
2. Khoms of the Aït Ouahlim
“Aït-Ouahlim”, about 2,900 hearths in 1936, against 2,200 in the same author's table for late 1930. (p. 97)
3. Khoms of the Aït Isfoul and Aït Alouane
“Aït-Isfoul — Aït-Alouane”, about 1,100 hearths in 1936. (p. 97)
4. Khoms of the Aït Yazza (Aït ʿAïsa Mzin)
“Aït-Yazza — Aït-Khalifa — Aït-el-Fersi”, about 1,400 hearths in 1936. (p. 97)
5. Khoms of the Aït Ounebgui
“Aït-Ounebgui (Aït-Khebbach — Aït-Oumnasf)”, about 1,200 hearths in 1936. (p. 97)

Beaurpère (lieutenant) (1931)

Note provisoire sur les vallées du Todgha, de l'Imider et du Saghro oriental (versants nord et est)

1. Khoms of the Aït Ouallal and Aït Ounir
—
2. Khoms of the Aït Ouahlim
Two groupings: Aït Zemro (four tribes) and Aït Hasso. (tableau du khoms (PDF p. 73))
3. Khoms of the Aït Isfoul and Aït Alouane
—
4. Khoms of the Aït Yazza (Aït ʿAïsa Mzin)
—
5. Khoms of the Aït Ounebgui
—

Hart (1984)

The Ait 'Atta of Southern Morocco

1. Khoms of the Aït Ouallal and Aït Ounir
—
2. Khoms of the Aït Ouahlim
Two sub-fifths: Ait Zimru and Ait Hassu. (p. 11)
3. Khoms of the Aït Isfoul and Aït Alouane
—
4. Khoms of the Aït Yazza (Aït ʿAïsa Mzin)
Named khoms of the Ait 'Aisa Mzin. (p. 11)
5. Khoms of the Aït Ounebgui
—

Associated tribes

Two Arab tribes long linked to the Aït Atta, outside the five khmas.

  • Bni Mhammed

    A Maʿqil Arab tribe from the Atlantic coast, long linked to the Aït Atta without being a khoms. At odds with the Sbah for about a hundred years, they became partisans of the Aït Khebbach, to whom a tafergant pact binds them, and fought alongside them in the Touat (1901-1902), at Boudenib and in the Tafilalet (from 1907). Spillmann recalls the memory of their expeditions to the Touat, Gourara and Tidikelt in 1709, 1864 and 1887. Around 1930 they are settled in the Ktaoua, at Mhamid and in the Tafilalet, with a supreme sheikh chosen by rotation among their sections.

  • Arib

    Maʿqil Arabs of the Bni Hassan, great cameleers, who once ranged the western Sahara from Timbuktu to the Draa; they settled at the bend of the Draa (Ktaoua, Mhamid) only in the nineteenth century. Their Nouaji section lives under the protection of the Aït Amr (Aït Khebbach), while most of the tribe follows the Aït Isfoul. Spillmann counts 422 tents around 1930.

Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)

  1. Spillmann et al., 2007 — trad. p. 59-81 (orig. p. 74-98)Excerpts consulted · Colonial military
  2. Beaurpère (lieutenant), 1931 — tableau du khoms des Aït OuahlimExcerpts consulted · Colonial military
  3. Hart, 1984 — p. 8, 11, 180Excerpts consulted · Academic research