Berber or the
Amazigh languages or dialects (Berber name:
Tamaziɣt,
Tamazight, ) are a family of similar and closely related languages and dialects indigenous to
North Africa. They are spoken by large populations in
Algeria and
Morocco, and by smaller populations in
Libya,
Tunisia, northern
Mali, western and northern
Niger, northern
Burkina Faso,
Mauritania, and in the
Siwa Oasis of Egypt. Large Berber-speaking migrant communities have been living in Western Europe since the 1950s. In 2001, Berber became a constitutional national language of Algeria, and in 2011 Berber became a constitutionally official language of Morocco, after years of persecution.