{{Short description|Moroccan tribe}} right|thumb|Chiadma carpet {{Circa|18th century}}
The '''Chiadma region''' ({{langx|ar|الشياظمة|al-Shyāḍma}}) is situated on the Atlantic coast of Morocco between Safi and Essaouira.
== Etymology == The name Chiadma is of Arabic origin. It comes from the word ''shayḏ̣am'' (شيظم) or ''shayḏ̣amī'' (شيظميّ) with the plural ''shayāḏ̣ima'' (شياظمة) which literally means "tall, big, corpulent, great, burly, young" and can be applied to people and animals like horses and camels. Ultimately, the name derives from the root √sh-ḏ̣-m In the colloquial dialect, it lost the diphthong /ay/ and the phoneme /ḏ̣/ [ظ] became /ḍ/ [ض] resulting in the modern name.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Francisco |first=Felipe Benjamin |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02087047v1 |title=Studies on Arabic Dialectology and Sociolinguistics: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of AIDA |last2= |last3= |last4= |last5= |date=2019 |publisher=IREMAM |isbn=979-10-365-3389-1 |editor-last=Germanos |editor-first=Marie-Aimée |location=Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar |chapter=Preliminary Notes on the Arabic Dialect of the Chiadma (North of Essaouira) |editor-last2=Guerrero |editor-first2=Jairo |editor-last3=Miller |editor-first3=Catherine |editor-last4=Barontini |editor-first4=Alexandrine |editor-last5=Pereira |editor-first5=Christophe |chapter-url=https://books.openedition.org/iremam/3903}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The name of the tribe became the toponym of the region. Historically, the region was known as Regraga before the arrival of Arab tribes in the 12th century in reference to a tribe that later became incorporated into the Chiadma tribe.<ref name=":1" />
== Tribal origin == The members of the Chiadma claim an Arab origin distinguishing themselves from the Haha who speak Shilha and who the Chiadma call ''shlūḥ.'' According to 20th century Moroccan historian {{Ill|Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Kānūnī al-ʿAbdī|ar|محمد بن أحمد العبدي الكانوني||}}, they are a mix of multiple Arab tribes like Mudar and al-Harith with Maqil among them. Some fractions of the tribe also have Berber roots like Regraga and Heskala.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Francisco |first=Felipe Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVHyEAAAQBAJ&dq=chiadma&pg=PA24 |title=The Arabic dialect of Essaouira (Morocco): grammar and texts |date=2024-02-05 |publisher=Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza |isbn=978-84-1340-779-1 |language=en|pages=23–26}}</ref>
The first references to the Chiadma in historical sources began in the Saadi era.<ref name=":1" /> Some of the authors that mention the Chiadma from this period include Leo Africanus, Luis del Mármol Carvajal and Damião de Góis.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
The 16th-century Spanish chronicler Luis del Mármol Carvajal recorded the Chiadma as "beréberes Cobeyles" (Berber tribes) who lived in {{ill|Douar (Maghreb)|fr|Douar|lt=douars}} (mobile tent-villages) like Arabs.<ref>{{cite book | last = Mármol Carvajal | first = Luis del | title = Libro tercero y segundo volumen de la Primera parte de la descripcion general de Affrica | date = 1573 | publisher = Rene Rabut | location = Granada | type = Early Modern Spanish | chapter = Capítulo LIII | page = 97 (Folio 46) | url = https://archive.org/details/ARes73407/page/n97/mode/1up | access-date = 2026-05-29 | language = es | quote = Vled Xedma, que ſon beréberes Cobeyles q́ andan en aduares como Alarabes, y ſon muy poderoſos }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=ancient source|date=May 2026}} He writes : {{Blockquote|The tributes that the peaceful Moors paid at that time to the {{ill|Nuno Fernandes de Ataíde|pt|Nuno Fernandes de Ataíde|lt=Captain General of Safi}} in the name of the King of Portugal were these: Those of Abda, who are principal Arabs of Duquela, paid one thousand camel-loads each year, half in wheat and half in barley, counting two loads of barley as one of wheat. A camel-load is twenty fanegas of barley, or twelve of wheat; and besides this, they paid six good horses and four gyrfalcons.
Those of Garbia Icexa, who likewise are principal Arabs of that province, paid the same amount.
Those of Vled Ambran Litali, who are also powerful and rich Arabs, paid the same amount.
Those of Vled Ambran Discani, who are also of that tribe, paid the same amount.
'''Vled Xedma (Chiadma)''', who are Berber Cobeyles (tribes) who move in {{ill|Douar (Maghreb)|fr|Douar|lt=douars}} (mobile tent-villages) like Arabs, and are very powerful, paid the same amount.
Those of Vled Motaa, who are also Cobeyles and move in douars, paid the same amount.
The inhabitants of the city of Almedina of Doukkala, who are African Berbers, paid the same amount.|sign=Luis del Mármol Carvajal}}
Researcher Dr. Felipe B. Francisco argued that Historians from the 16th century seem to confirm the Arab origin of the Chiadma because they used to distinguish between the Haha and the Arab tribes who used to live in their territory, and the Chiadma were among them,<ref name=":0" /> based on these passages :
{{Blockquote|Elcherit [Al-Ḥāriṯ] dwell upon the Heli plains in the company of the Saidima [Chiadma] and collect tribute from the people of Hea [Haha]. They are vile and poor people.|sign=Leo Africanus}}
{{Blockquote|The ninth is called Vled el Querid [Al-Ḥāriṯ] and they dwell upon the Helin plains in the province of the Heha [Haha], which is located in the Kingdom of Morocco, in the company of Vled Saydima [Chiadma]. Although they were used to collect tribute from the Berber of that province, they were a vile and poorly armed people.|sign=Luis del Mármol Carvajal}}
French orientalist {{Ill|Édouard Michaux-Bellaire|fr|Édouard Michaux-Bellaire}} argued that they were Arabized Berbers due to their usage of words borrowed from Berber languages like ''sārūt'' < ''tāsārūt'' ‘key’; ''mūka'' <''tāmūkt'' ‘owl’; ''mūš'' < ''āmshīsh'' ‘cat’. This argument, however, is not convincing since these are common borrowings found in all Moroccan Arabic dialects. Contemporary Moroccan authors affirmed their Arab origin, the first to claim this was Al-Kānūnī (1932) followed by Ar-Regrāgī (1935).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
==Territory== thumb|Chiadma region The Chiadma territory is divided into two regions. The western portion lies between the sacred mountain of Regraga, Djebel Hadid, and the Atlantic Ocean coastal plain of the Sahel. This area is known for its mariners, and its farmers raise garden crops, providing the local market with vegetables, fruits and fish. Olive oil, grain and livestock are produced in the eastern Kabla region.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
== Language == According to the linguist Felipe Benjamin Francisco, the speech of the Chiadma does not show relevant contact with the Shilha language despite their centuries long relationship with the Haha. The dialect that Fransisco investigated shared many features with the Hilalian dialect spoken in the Atlantic strip, ''ʕṛūbi''.<ref name=":0" /> Francisco records an excerpt of a woman originating from the Chiadma territory specifically Aquermoud.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Francisco |first=Felipe Benjamin |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/57543 |title=Semitic Dialects and Dialectology: Fieldwork—Community—Change |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |last4= |first4= |last5= |first5= |last6= |first6= |last7= |first7= |last8= |first8= |last9= |first9= |date=2022 |publisher=Heidelberg University Publishing (heiUP) |isbn=978-3-96822-096-3 |editor-last=Klimiuk |editor-first=Maciej |pages=351 |language=English |chapter=New Texts in the Arabic Dialect of Essaouira (Jewish and Muslim Varieties) |chapter-url=https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/859/chapter/13976}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- style="vertical-align:top;" |<poem>1. kŭnna ka-nžīw l-ʕṛūbĭyya u-ḥna ṣġāṛ, māzāl ma kāyn-š ḍ-ḍu, kānu ka-ydīru š-šmăʕ, la bougie, d’accord? 2. kānu ka-ydīru f-wŭṣṭ ḍ-ḍāṛ bāš ka-yḍŭwwu u-ma kān-š hād l-ḅūḷa bḥāl hādi ma-kān-š, 3. āh, f-ǝd-dāxǝl dyāl ḍ-ḍāṛ ma-kān-š ḍ-ḍu, kān š-šmăʕ. [question] 4. lā! kŭnna ka-nxŭržu bḥāl hākka, ka-ybqāw ilăʕbu, ḥna ṣ-ṣġīwṛīn u-kān ġīṛ ḍ-ḍu dyāl l-qāmāṛ bḥāl hākka, 5. k-ibqāw ilăʕbu, k-ibqāw ilăʕbu, dīma hna f-ǝl-līl w-āna kătt ka-nxāf, āna ma ka-nbġī-š nǝtḥăṛṛăk, 6. dīma ka-ndīr hākka u-ka-nǝbqa f-blāṣti bəzzāf w-ūma ka-yžru 29 w-ilăʕbu. [...] </poem> |<poem>1. We used to come to the countryside when we were kids, there was no light (electricity) yet, they used to put on candles, la bougie, d’accord? 2. They used to put it in the middle of the house in order to illuminate and there was no lamp like this one there wasn’t, 3. that’s it, inside the house there was no light, there was the candle. [F.B.F.: There was no electricity?] 4. No! We used to go out like this, they kept playing, us the children, and there was the moonlight only, like this: 5. they kept playing and playing, always here in the evening. I used to be afraid, so I preferred not to move, 6. I always did this way and stayed firmly at my place and they kept running and playing […] </poem> |}
Alongside Darija several rural communes within the Chiadma region have notable Tachelhit-speaking populations, including Meskala (42.8%), Ait Said (35.1%), Ounagha (19.2%), and Mouarid (14.5%).<ref>{{cite web |title=Résultats Principaux du RGPH 2024 |url=https://resultats2024.rgphapps.ma/ |publisher=Haut-Commissariat au Plan |access-date=2026-05-29}}. Note: Geographically and administratively, these communes are classified within the Chiadma regional boundaries of the Essaouira Province, with the Meskala historically constituting an indigenous Amazigh fraction of the Chiadma confederation.</ref>
==Celebrations==
=== Regraga === [[File:Regraga.jpg|thumb|''Zawiya'' of the Regraga]] The Chiadma annually celebrate a 40-day pilgrimage, the Regraga, in spring. During these weeks, pilgrims visit a series of local shrines from the mouth of the Tensift river south of Safi to the northern outskirts of the High Atlas Mountains, and including the city of Essaouira itself. They are led by two groups on a round trip stopping at every shrine on the way. One group must dress at every shrine a holy tent made of fan palm fibres and dyed with henna, the other group arrives in a procession with a muqaddim (religious leader) riding a white horse.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}
=== Laâroussa === {{further|fr:Anzar}}
During droughts in the countryside around Essaouira, it is traditional to carry into the fields a white puppet decorated with white flower blossoms, called the ''Laâroussa Chta'' (لعروسة شتى ) in Arabic: Laâroussa meaning "the bride on her wedding day", and Chta meaning "rain".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.essaouira.nu/culture_regraga.htm|title=Essaouira - Chiadma Regraga|last=|first=|date=|website=Essaouira|publisher=|access-date=2016-08-21}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{Morocco topics}} Category:Moroccan tribes Category:Arab tribes in Morocco Category:Regions of Morocco Category:Geography of Morocco