Kunta (tribe)

The Kountas or Kuntas (singular: Elkentawi or Alkanata) are described originally as Arabs, descendants of Uqba ibn Nafi.^[1] The Kunta tribe are also considered to have roots to Sidi Ahmad al-Bakkay, the founder, who died in the early 16th century. The Kunta originated in Qayrawan.

The Kunta was formed during the 9th/15th or possibly during the 10th/16th century. They were located in the north-west side of Shara. The Kounta were instrumental in the expansion of Islam into sub-Saharan West Africa in the 15th century, and formed an urban elite in cities such as Timbuktu which were on the southern end of the Trans-Saharan trade.^[2] The Kunta are better known for their role as Islamic scholars. From Timbuktu, the Kunta were able to exert an enormous influence on the development of Islam in West Africa. They established different clerical identity. They as well did not use weapons when spreading the word of Islam.^[3] They are a large religious clan whose relations are the product of struggling and managing to deal with pressures such as invasions and droughts.

The Kunta tribe separated into two groups. One group went into the west while the second group moved to the Central Western Sahara and the South Western Sahara.^[4] The Kunta hold a role of prominence in the Southern Sahara that can be traced back to many centuries ago. They gained prominence in the Azawad during the lifetime of Sīdī al-Mukhtār al-Kuntī (d. 1811) and his child, Sīdī Muhammad (d. 1826).

"Kunta" is an Arabic word (كُنْتَ), meaning, "you were," (2nd person, male).