Maghrawa

Maghrawa, a branch of the Atlas Berbers, formerly very powerful, now reduced to a few broken tribes scattered over north Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis. They are the Makhurebi of Ptolemy, and in the national genealogies they appear as a branch of the great Zenata family. On the arrival of the Arabs (7th century) they yvere amongst the first Mauritanians to embrace Islam, but during the long intestine wars of later times they were nearly annihilated in the 14th century. The chief surviving group appear to be the Laghwats (already mentioned by Ibn Khaldun), who give their name to the town and oasis of Laghwat, south of the Jebel Amur, Algerian Sahara.