Tadla

A map of the historical Tadla region and its tribes.

Tadla is a historical and geographical region of Morocco, located in the center of the country, north of the High Atlas and west of the Middle Atlas. It is the region of origin of the eponymous tribal, semi-nomadic pastoralist population, the « Tadla tribes ».

Nowadays, the historical region of Tadla is mainly part of the administrative region of Béni Mellal-Khénifra, except the historical territory of the Beni Meskine tribe, which is part of the Casablanca-Settat administrative region.

Demography

The population of the Tadla is traditionally divided into 9 tribes, mainly of Arab origin :

• Aït Robʿa tribe : occupying the western part of the modern Beni Mellal Province ; formed under Moulay Ismael (r. 1672-1727) by the merging of an original Tadla tribe (Beni Mellal) with 3 "Guich" tribes (Guettaya, Samguet and Beni Maʿdane) ;
• Beni ʿAmir tribe : occupying the northern part of the modern Fquih Ben Salah Province ;
• Beni Kheirane tribe : occupying the northwestern part of the modern Khouribga Province ;
• Beni Meskine tribe : occupying the southern part of the modern Settat Province, formerly part of the Tadla confederacy, joined the Chaouia confederacy in the 19th century ;
• Beni Moussa tribe : occupying the southern part of the modern Fquih Ben Salah Province ;
• Beni Zemmour tribe : occupying the eastern part of the modern Khouribga Province ;
• Ouardigha tribal confederacy : occupying the central and the western parts of the modern Khouribga Province ; confederacy formed by 3 tribes : Oulad Bahr Kbar, Oulad Bahr Sghar and Smaʿla.

Bibliography

• (French) Cpt. R. Peyronnet, "History of the Tadla from the origins to 1910" (French: Histoire du Tadla des origines à 1910), in: Bulletin de la Société de Géographie d'Alger et de l'Afrique du Nord, 24th y. (1919), pp. 49–62
• (Arabic) A. M. Qasimi, "History of the Bani ʿAmir tribe and the neighbouring Tadla, 1188-1956" (Arabic: تارخ قبيلة بني عمير والمحيط التادلي، 1188م - 1956م‎‎), D.N. (2005)

• Peyronnet (1919), p.59