People known as the Berbers (anciently often known as Libyans, who today call themselves the Imazighen or Tamazight), their relations and descendants, have been the major population group to inhabit North Africa during the last eight thousand years. This anciently included terrain from the Nile to the Atlantic, encompassing the vast Sahara with Ahaggar and Tibesti, and the long Mediterranean shore, including the region now called the Republic of Tunisia.