traditionally found, states Iaon Lewis, Somali communities have traditionally distinguished between the artisanal Somali castes and their slaves, but in the south they have blurred these distinctions. The castes among Somali people have also existed in other East African ethnic groups. For instance, cognates to Somali castes have been recorded in 16th century texts among the Oromo people, states Cornelius Jaenen. The table below illustrate some alternate terms for castes mirroring the Somali Madhiban in other ethnic groups that share this region with the Somali people. Similarly, equivalent terms for castes in other northeast and east African ethnic groups mirror other castes such as the Tomal and the Yibir of Somali people. North Africa Moors The Muslim Moors society in the Maghreb parts of the North Africa was traditionally (and still is, to some extent) stratified. According to Rebecca Popenoe – a professor of Anthropology, while the Islamic scriptures do not dictate a caste system, and while caste systems are not divinely ordained . In Mauritanian context, the Kafa'ah doctrine has been developed as a justification for considering family status before marriage, annulment of marriages between unequal people, and endogamy. Moors have owned slaves for centuries. The slaves are traditionally called Haratin and `Abid, and they were the lowest status endogamous castes, largely segregated oasis-dwelling black people, in the Moors society.Fair elections haunted by racial imbalance;Mauritanian MPs pass slavery law by BBC News The Haratin of Mauritania, states Joseph Hellweg – a professor of Anthropology specializing on West African studies, were part of a social caste-like hierarchy that likely developed between 1300 to 1500 CE because of a Bedouin legacy. The "Hassan" monopolized the occupations related to war and politics, the "Zwaya" (Zawaya) the religious roles, the "Bidan" (White Moors) owned property and held slaves (Haratins, Black Moors), and the slaves constituted the lowest of the social strata. Each of these were castes, endogamous, with hereditary occupations and where the upper strata collected tribute (horma) from the lower strata of Mauritanian society, considered them socially inferior, and denied them the right to own land or weapons thereby creating a socio-economically closed system.Katherine Ann Wiley (2016), Making People Bigger: Wedding Exchange and the Creation of Social Value in Rural Mauritania, Africa Today, Johns Hopkins University Press, Volume 62, Number 3, pages 48-69 Among Hassaniya Arabic speakers in southern Morocco and Mauritania, states Sean Hanretta – a professor of African History, the