Hart describes them as concentrated in the Saghro, with elements in the Draa, “in some respects the most noteworthy” of the Aït Atta clans; they consider themselves the major clan of the country (1984, pp. 21, 30). In the Saghro they own the storehouse qasbas of Miqquebbi and Igherm n'Ilemchan, where only guardians live (Beaurpère). Their collective pasture, the agudal n-Ilimshan south of the Tizi n'Ilisi pass, is shared with the Ihansalen according to a fixed calendar (Hart). Hart reports that once all the Aït Atta ganged up against them, in a war of “seven years”, a figure he considers suspect (p. 117). Assou Oubasslam and his brother Basso, of the Aït Bu Tghuratin lineage, were their leaders in 1930-1933; other Ilemchan, those of the Dadès, served the same year in the auxiliary harkas.
Assisted translation, not validated
Sections and lineages
- Aït Bounou
- Aït Maarir
Beaurpère (lieutenant) (1931), tableau du khoms des Aït Ouahlim (PDF p. 73)
Notables
- Assou Oubasslam“Sheikh of the Ilemchan” in 1930; leader of the defence of the Saghro in 1933.Spillmann (2007), trad. p. 33, 69, 113 (orig. p. 39, 84, 141)
- Basso ou BaslamAssou's brother; Spillmann names the two brothers as leaders of the Ilemchan of the Todgha in 1933.Spillmann (2007), trad. p. 113 (orig. p. 141)
Classifications according to the sources
- Tribe of the Aït Zemro grouping.Beaurpère (lieutenant) (1931), tableau du khoms
- Associated with the Ignaouen in one of the three “thirds” of the Aït Ouahlim.Spillmann (2007), trad. p. 67 (orig. p. 82)
Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)