Sedouikech

The Sedouikich are a subdivision of the Berber confederation of the Kutama. They inhabit the plains of the Ketama territory located between Béjaïa and Constantine in Algeria.

Factions

The Sedouikich have several branches: the Sîlîn, the Tarsoun, the Torghîan, the Moulît, the Casha, the Lemaï, the Gaïaza, the Beni Zâlan, the El Bouéira, the Beni Merouan, the Ouarmekcen, the Segdal and the Beni Eïad. In the same regions, other Berber factions are found: the Lemaïa and the Righa. In the 14th century, the Sedouikich and these factions formed a powerful group under the authority of a Sedouikich family: the Ouled Souac. The tribes of different origins that remained on their territory were subjected and paid taxes.

Lifestyle and reputation

The Sedouikich lived in tents, rode horses and traveled the country. They did not want to be recognized as Ketama because of the participation of this confederation in the Fatimid epic in the 10h century, (negatively connoted because of its Shiite obedience) and then its hostility to the successor governments of the Fatimids. According to Ibn Khaldoun, they sometimes give themselves an Arab origin Banu Sulaym which is an unfounded claim, because they are indeed of Berber and kutama origin. The Sedouikich is a branch of the Branès-Ketama who live in tents and raise camels. The Ketama are generally considered Kabyles, the Sedouikich is therefore an example of a Kabyle shepherd and lives in a tent.

From the 16th to the 19th century

Algeria at the beginning of the 16th century and its fragmentation, including the dependencies of the Sedouikech tribes

At the beginning of the 16th century the political situation in Algeria was fragmented, in particular we note that there were in Kabylia the principalities of the Belkadis in Koukou, and of the Beni-Abbas; in Constantinois, between Medjana and Constantine are the dependencies of the Sedouikech tribes, completely to the East, the dependencies of the Harrar tribes. The Aït Abbas tribe (in Arabic: Beni Abbas) at the origin of the formation of the Sultanate of Aït Abbas (1510–1872) is of Sedouikich origin from the Azizid faction.

Sources

• Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique du département de Constantine (in French). L. Arnolet. 1872. p. 185.
• Julien, Charles-André (1994). Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord: des origines à 1830 (in French). Payot. p. 355. ISBN 978-2-228-88789-2.
• Ibn-Ḫaldūn, ʿAbd-ar-Raḥmān Ibn-Muḥammad (1852). Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique septentrionale: collationné sur plusieurs manuscrits (in French). Impr. du Gouvernement. pp. 293–296.
• Djender, Mahieddine (1991). Introduction à l'histoire de l'Algérie (in French). Entreprise nationale du livre. p. 194.