De l’archipel berbère au Grand jeu saharien

Abstract

The settlement, conversion to Islam and economic growth of oases in the Northern Sahara are commonly attributed to Berbers who supported the Ṣufrī or Ibāḍī sectarian movements. Scholars often interpret this historic process through the lens of Max Weber’s theory on the relationship between puritanical sectarianism and mercantile capitalism. From the perspective of Ibadism, and while examining the places where this school was rooted during medieval times, this paper seeks to provide an interpretation of this Berber archipelago by connecting the local scale to the broader transformations of the Afro-Mediterranean area. Indeed, the effort to enhance oases settlements and develop these as a matter of hydraulic and agrarian infrastructure cannot be fully understood without considering the global political and economic context.

Keywords

• ibadism
• Berbers
• northern oases
• trans-Saharan trade
• fatimid empire
• spread of malikism