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The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria.
The Tuareg languages constitute a group of closely related Berber languages and dialects. They are spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso, with a few speakers, the Kinnin, in Chad.
Tassili n'Ajjer is a national park in the Sahara desert, located on a vast plateau in southeastern Algeria. Having one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world, and covering an area of more than 72,000 km2 (28,000 sq mi), Tassili n'Ajjer was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1982 by Gonde Hontigifa.
Ubari or Awbari is a Tuareg Berber-speaking oasis town and the capital of the Wadi al Hayaa District, in the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya. It is in the Idehan Ubari, a Libyan section of the Sahara Desert. It was the capital of the former baladiyah (district) called Awbari, in the southwest of the country.
Ghat is the capital of the Ghat District in the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya, located just east of the Algerian border.
Djanet is an oasis city, and capital of Djanet District as well as of Djanet Province, southeast Algeria. It is located 412 km (256 mi) south of Illizi. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 14,655, up from 9,699 in 1998, and an annual population growth rate of 4.3%. It is inhabited by the Kel Ajjer Tuareg people.
The Iwellemmedan (Iwəlləmədǎn), also spelled Iullemmeden, Aulliminden, Ouilliminden, Lullemmeden, and Iwellemmeden, are one of the seven major Tuareg tribal or clan confederations. Their communities are historically nomadic and intermixed with other ethnic groups. The Iwellemmeden inhabit a wide area ranging from east and north central Mali, through the Azawagh valley, into northwestern Niger and south into northern Nigeria. While once a single confederation of dozens of Tuareg clans, subject peoples, and allied groups, since the 18th century they have been divided into Kel Ataram (west) and Kel Dinnik (east) confederations. Following colonial rule and independence, the Iwellemmedan homelands cross the Mali/Niger border, and their traditional seasonal migration routes have spread Iwellemmedan communities into Burkina Faso and Nigeria as well. They speak the Tawellemmet variant of the Tamasheq language, although some current or historical sub-clans speak other Tamasheq variants as well as Songhai languages and Arabic dialects.
Tadaksahak is a Songhay language spoken by the pastoralist Idaksahak of the Ménaka Region of Mali. Its phonology, verb morphology and vocabulary has been strongly influenced by the neighbouring Tuareg languages, Tamasheq and Tamajaq.
Tamahaq is the only known Northern Tuareg language, spoken in Algeria, western Libya and northern Niger. It varies little from the Southern Tuareg languages of the Aïr Mountains, Azawagh and Adagh. The differences mostly consist of sound substitutions, such as Tamahaq instead of Tamajaq or Tamasheq.
Kel Ahaggar is a Tuareg confederation inhabiting the Hoggar Mountains in Algeria. The confederation is believed to have been founded by the Tuareg matriarch Tin Hinan, whose monumental tomb is located at Abalessa. The official establishment is dated to around 1750. It has been largely defunct since 1977, when it was terminated by the Algerian government.
Kel Ayr was a semi-nomadic Tuareg tribal confederation. It ruled an area centered on the Aïr Mountains in what is today Niger.
The Azawagh is a dry basin covering what is today the northwestern Niger, as well as parts of northeastern Mali and southern Algeria. The Azawagh is mainly made up of Sahelian and Saharan flatlands and has a population that is predominantly Tuareg, with some Arabic-speaking, Bouzou and Wodaabe minorities and a recent influx of Hausa and Zarma.
The Kel Adagh are a Tuareg confederation of clans living in the region of the Adrar des Iforas highlands in Mali. The name comes from Tamasheq "Kel" and "Adagh" ("Mountains"). In the modern era, not all Tuareg in the Adrar des Iforas are Kel Adagh, while some Kel Adagh are spread through northern Niger and southern Algeria, with populations in the Aïr Mountains, Tassili n'Ajjer, and the Hoggar Mountains. Most Kel Adagh derive from Noble and Warrior castes and their tributaries.
Kel Gres is a tribal confederation of Tuareg clans. In the modern era, they have mostly lived in south central Niger, although they are known to have inhabited the Aïr Mountains prior to the 17th century. As pastoralists, the Kel Gress also have a tradition seasonal transhumance cycle which takes them far from their more settled communities in the Zinder and Tahoua Regions.
The Kel Awey are a Tuareg clan confederation. From the 18th century until the advent of French colonial rule at the beginning of the 20th century, they were a dominant power in the Aïr Mountains of north central Niger.
Tin El Koum is a village in the commune of Djanet, in Djanet District, Illizi Province, Algeria. It is located in the same valley as Ghat in Libya, deep within in the south-eastern Tassili N'Ajjer mountain range, east of Djanet. It is the location of a border crossing into Libya which is controlled by independent Tuareg militias in the Libyan civil war.
Litham is a mouth-veil which the Tuareg and other North African nomads, particularly men, have traditionally used to cover the lower part of their face.
Lake Menghough was an intermittent lake in the southeast of Algeria. It is described in the account of the first Flatters expedition, which reached the lake in April 1880. Other European visitors found the lake dry or filled depending on rainfall.
Gaston Méry was a French explorer. He was born in Algeria, son of one of the early settlers. After serving as a sailor and in the army, he assisted in surveys in Tunisia, then undertook three major expeditions into the Sahara in southern Algeria. He established friendly contact with the Tuareg people of the Kel Ajjer confederation, at the time considered unfriendly to the French, and mapped part of the route for a projected trans-Sahara railway to link Algeria to the Sudan. In the last years of his life he became a prosperous trader and real estate developer in Timbuktu.
Kel Essuf rock art is the earliest form of engraved anthropomorphic Central Saharan rock art, which was produced prior to 9800 BP. The Kel Essuf Period is preceded by the Bubaline Period and followed by the Round Head Period. Kel Essuf rock art usually depicts oval-shaped artforms, which possess four short appendages – two upper appendages, or arms, that may have between three to four finger-like digits, and two lower appendages, or legs – as well as an additional appendage, or penile appendage, without finger-like digits, which may be indicative of maleness. The Kel Essuf rock art tradition of engraving may have developed into the monumental Round Head rock art tradition of painting. Round Head rock art bears considerable similarity with traditional Sub-Saharan African cultures.
References
- ↑ Biagetti, Stefano (2014-07-19). Ethnoarchaeology of the Kel Tadrart Tuareg: Pastoralism and Resilience in Central Sahara. Springer. p. 26. ISBN 9783319085302.
- ↑ Heiss, Johann (2005). Veränderung und Stabilität: Normen und Werte in islamischen Gesellschaften (in German). Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. p. 139. ISBN 9783700135487.
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