Arma people

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The Arma people are an ethnic group of the middle Niger River valley, descended from Moroccan invaders of the 16th century . The name, applied by other groups, derives from the word ar-rumah (Arabic: الرماة) "fusiliers".^[1]

The Arma ethnicity is distinct from (but sometimes confused with) the 3.6 million Zarma people of western Niger, who predate the Moroccan invasion and speak the Zarma language, also a member of the Songhay languages.

As of 1986, there were some 20,000 self-identified Arma in Mali, mostly around Timbuktu, the middle Niger bend and the Inner Niger Delta.^{[citation needed]}