page_title: Barbarian
section_title: Middle East and North Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Barbarian / In non-Western historical contexts / Middle East and North Africa
caption_attribution_description: English: Purchase_of_Christian_captives_from_the_Barbary_StatesFrançais&#160;: les Religieux de la Mercy de France, qui font un Vœu de Racheter les Captifs, et en cas de besoin de demeurer en leur place, ayant l'an 1662, racheté en Alger environ 100 Esclaves et l'an 1666 fait une rédemption à Tunis et en l'année 1667 une autre en Alger
context_page_description: A barbarian is a human who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less civilized or orderly but may also be part of a certain "primitive" cultural group or social class both within and outside one's own nation. Alternatively, they may instead be admired and romanticised as noble savages. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, and insensitive person.
  The term originates from the Greek: βάρβαρος. In Ancient Greece, the Greeks used the term towards those who did not speak Greek and follow classical Greek customs. In Ancient Rome, the Romans used the term towards tribal non-Romans such as the Germanics, Celts, Gauls, Iberians, Thracians, Illyrians, Berbers, and Sarmatians. In the early modern period and sometimes later, the Byzantine Greeks used it for the Turks in a clearly pejorative manner.
context_section_description: The native Berbers of North Africa were among the many peoples called "Barbarian" by the early Romans. The term continued to be used by medieval Arabs (see Berber etymology) before being replaced by "Amazigh". In English, the term "Berber" continues to be used as an exonym. The geographical term Barbary or Barbary Coast, and the name of the Barbary pirates based on that coast (and who were not necessarily Berbers) were also derived from it.
  The term has also been used to refer to people from Barbary, a region encompassing most of North Africa. The name of the region, Barbary, comes from the Arabic word Barbar, possibly from the Latin word barbaricum, meaning "land of the barbarians."
  Many languages define the "Other" as those who do not speak one's language; Greek barbaroi was paralleled by Arabic ajam "non-Arabic speakers; non-Arabs; (especially) Persians."
caption: Ransom of Christian slaves held in Barbary, 17th century
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