التعمير البشري و التعريب في المغرب الإسلامي الوسيط : بلاد كتامة أنموذجا

Abstract EN

The Kutãma territory Located in the region between Sétif, Mila and Jijel on the western limits of Ifriqiya; has underwent significant spatial and social evolutions after the Umayyad conquests of the region.

Although little is known about the spread of Islam, communities in the region have been placed in the same category, the Kutãma, following intense Ismaili missionary activity.

This categorization in turn has later undergone a territorial extension to encompass the city of Constantine as the Ismailism progressed.

The study of various sources highlights this evolution of settlement and in particular the gradual Arabization of ethnonyms and anthroponyms especially during the ninth and tenth centuries.

The displacement of the centers of Ismaili preaching from the country of Kutãma to the eastern cities of Ifriqiya provoked the first departure of the Kutãma supporters of the Ismaili movement.

To justify this, the Fatimid caliphs carried out a theological reform, suppressing the link between Mahdawiyya and the end of the world (Qiyamah) and legitimizing Fatimid political aims.

The Hililian and Sulaymid displacement accentuated, at a later stage, the depopulation of the territory in favor of the Bedouin tribes who dominated the main valleys and the high plateaus of the Southern and eastern Kutãma territory.