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Racial discrimination in the Maghreb finds its roots in a complex history. Most of it remains unaddressed. Two principal historical episodes contribute to understanding the current racialized hierarchization of Maghrebi societies, Islamic slaveries, and colonialism. North Africa has been a crossroads between the African continent and the Mediterranean and Ottoman world, importing slaves from the Niger Bend, Lake Chad, Darfur, the Nile basin, and Ethiopia. It has then been colonized by France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy during the 18th and 19th centuries. The following analyzes the reasons behind the “othering” of blacks in the Maghreb and their constant perception as subalterns or inferiors.