Tuareg
Tuareg
PRONUNCIATION: TWAH-reg
LOCATION: Saharan and Sahelian Africa (mostly Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso)
POPULATION: About 1 million
LANGUAGE: Tamacheq
RELIGION: Islam, combined with traditional beliefs and practices
1 • INTRODUCTION
The Tuareg are an Islamic African people. They are classified as seminomadic , meaning that they travel with their herds on a seasonal basis but also have a home area where they grow some food crops.
The Tuareg are best known for the men's practice of veiling their faces with a blue cloth dyed with indigo. Early travelers' accounts often referred to them as the "Blue Men" of the Sahara Desert, the region where many Tuareg live. It is believed that the Tuareg are descendants of the North African Berbers, and that they originated in the Fezzan region of Libya. They later expanded into regions bordering the Sahara, bringing local farming peoples into their own society.
By the fourteenth century, trade routes to the wealthy salt, gold, ivory, and slave markets in North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East had sprung up across Tuareg territory. The Tuareg grew rich as livestock breeders and traders in the Saharan and Sahelian regions. (The Sahel is the region south of the Sahara Desert that is marked by times of drought but is not a real desert.
In the late nineteenth century, European exploration and military expeditions led to French rule of the Tuareg homeland. By the early twentieth century, the French had brought the Tuareg under their colonial control. They ended Tuareg trade activities, including the collection of tariffs and the protection services for camel caravans crossing the Sahara.
2 • LOCATION
Most of the Tuareg live in the Saharan and Sahelian regions—southern Algeria, western Libya, eastern Mali, northern Niger, and northeastern Burkina Faso. The landscape includes flat desert plains, rugged savanna (grassland), and volcanic mountains. Due to drought and famine, many Tuareg have migrated to rural areas
PRONUNCIATION: TWAH-reg
LOCATION: Saharan and Sahelian Africa (mostly Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso)
POPULATION: About 1 million
LANGUAGE: Tamacheq
RELIGION: Islam, combined with traditional beliefs and practices
1 • INTRODUCTION
The Tuareg are an Islamic African people. They are classified as seminomadic , meaning that they travel with their herds on a seasonal basis but also have a home area where they grow some food crops.
The Tuareg are best known for the men's practice of veiling their faces with a blue cloth dyed with indigo. Early travelers' accounts often referred to them as the "Blue Men" of the Sahara Desert, the region where many Tuareg live. It is believed that the Tuareg are descendants of the North African Berbers, and that they originated in the Fezzan region of Libya. They later expanded into regions bordering the Sahara, bringing local farming peoples into their own society.
By the fourteenth century, trade routes to the wealthy salt, gold, ivory, and slave markets in North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East had sprung up across Tuareg territory. The Tuareg grew rich as livestock breeders and traders in the Saharan and Sahelian regions. (The Sahel is the region south of the Sahara Desert that is marked by times of drought but is not a real desert.
In the late nineteenth century, European exploration and military expeditions led to French rule of the Tuareg homeland. By the early twentieth century, the French had brought the Tuareg under their colonial control. They ended Tuareg trade activities, including the collection of tariffs and the protection services for camel caravans crossing the Sahara.
2 • LOCATION
Most of the Tuareg live in the Saharan and Sahelian regions—southern Algeria, western Libya, eastern Mali, northern Niger, and northeastern Burkina Faso. The landscape includes flat desert plains, rugged savanna (grassland), and volcanic mountains. Due to drought and famine, many Tuareg have migrated to rural areas