The eastern countryside was officially incorporated into the Caliphate region in 1912 A.D. Subsequently, the Spanish administration-initiated settlement projects to exploit the countryside's resources and wealth, particularly the minerals that the region had accumulated. Spain's pursuit of mineral wealth was pivotal in colonial intervention and settlement near mining areas. This led to the formation of numerous representations among the tribe's people about the colonial exploitation of their wealth and the ensuing social, cultural, and historical changes. These transformations can be traced through the region's oral heritage, especially lyric poetry, folk tales, and inherited oral narratives. The Qaliya tribe's oral heritage offers a unique perspective on the socio-economic impact of colonial intervention, revealing the community's representations and experiences of mineral exploitation. It is crucial to emphasize that the oral heritage of the Qaliya tribe is not just a supplement to historical documents but a fundamental tool for comprehending the region's history. It is a testament to the tribe's remarkable resilience and cultural richness, a living narrative that has withstood the test of time. The oral transmission of events and facts provides a unique perspective on the tribe's history, offering a starting point for reinterpretation. Therefore, oral heritage plays a pivotal role in the historiography of periods that constituted historical turning points, the impacts of which are still present in the collective mind-set of the Rifian tribes, particularly the Qaliya tribe, whose mountains harboured abundant mineral resources, with iron being the most significant. From this standpoint, this paper aims to reveal aspects of the representations of the Qaliya tribe community regarding mineral exploitation and the areas of its presence based on the oral heritage in the region. The lyrical heritage, which serves as a signalling factor, leads to the identification of this tribal Amazigh community socially and culturally. This is done through a socio-historical approach, which enables monitoring the transformations of this society, its representations, and its socio-cultural characteristics. The Qaliya tribe relied primarily on oral memory to preserve its identity and cultural specificity; as such, it offers a unique and intriguing insight into these transformations through their oral heritage. We will try to prove this by focusing on using lyric poems (Izran) inherited within the tribe to monitor aspects of the history of the Qaliya community, the traces of which are still engraved in the memory of the region.
 
Citation:
Mounir kalkha, Jamal Dine Essarraje, “The Presence of Riffian Mines in the Amazigh Oral Heritage and its Socio-Historical Dimensions".- Historical kan Periodical. - Vol. (18) Issue (67); March 2025. Pp. 210 – 217.