The Berbers are the ethnicity indigenous to North Africa west of the Nile Valley. Historically they spoke Berber languages, which together form the "Berber branch" of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Since the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the seventh century, a large portion of Berbers have spoken varieties of Maghrebi Arabic, either by choice or obligation. Foreign languages like French and Spanish, inherited from former European colonial powers, are used by most educated Berbers in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Today, most of the Berber people live in Northern African countries such as Algeria and Morocco; a large Berber population is also found in Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali and Niger.