View source for Tuareg people

{{short description|Berber confederation of the Sahara desert}}
{{Redirect|Tuareg}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Tuareg
| native_name      = ''Imuhăɣ/Imašăɣăn/Imajăɣăn''<br/>ⵎⵂⵗ/ⵎⵛⵗⵏ/ⵎ‌ⵊⵗⵏ
| native_name_lang = Tuareg
| rawimage         = 
| image            = Homme toureg.jpg
| image_caption    = A Tuareg in [[Algiers]], Algeria
| flag             = 
| population       = ~'''4.0 million'''
| region1          = {{flag|Niger}}
| pop1             = 2,793,652 (11% of its total population)
| ref1             = <ref name=nigertuareg>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/niger/|title=The World Factbook|website=Central Intelligence Agency|access-date=2016-10-08}}, Niger: 11% of 23.6 million</ref>
| region2          = {{flag|Mali}}
| pop2             = 704,814 (1.7% of its total population)
| ref2             = <ref name="CIA-2021-Mali">{{cite web |title=Africa: Mali – The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mali/ |website=cia.gov |access-date=1 May 2021 |date=27 April 2021}}, Mali: 1.7% of 20.1 million</ref>
| region3          = {{flag|Burkina Faso}}
| pop3             = 406,271 (1.9% of its total population)
| ref3             = <ref name=burkinatuareg>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burkina-faso/|title=The World Factbook|website=Central Intelligence Agency|access-date=2021-10-12}}, Burkina Faso: 1.9% of 21.4 million</ref>
| region4          = {{flag|Libya}}
| pop4             = 100,000–250,000 (nomadic, 1.5% of its total population)<ref name="comprehedv.cluster011.ovh.net">{{Cite web |url=http://comprehedv.cluster011.ovh.net/thinktank/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Toubou-Tuareg-Dynamics-AP-EG-Finalized-607.pdf |last1=Adriana Petre |last2=Ewan Gordon |date=June 7, 2016 |title=Toubou-Tuareg Dynamics within Libya |publisher=DANU Strategic Forecasting Group |access-date=1 November 2020 |archive-date=25 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125180536/http://comprehedv.cluster011.ovh.net/thinktank/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Toubou-Tuareg-Dynamics-AP-EG-Finalized-607.pdf |url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="Hal open science">{{Cite web|url=https://amu.hal.science/hal-01395167/document | title=Tuareg and citizenship: 'The last camp of nomadism' | access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref>
| region5          = {{flag|Algeria}}
| pop5             = 152,000 (0.34% of its total population)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Project|first=Joshua | title=Tuareg in Algeria| url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/15226/AG | access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Project|first= Joshua | title=Tahaggart Tuareg in Algeria| url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/15608/AG | access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref>
| region6          = {{flag|Mauritania}}
| pop6             = 123,000 (2.6% of its total population)<ref name="Taq">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/taq/|title=Tamasheq|publisher=Ethnologue|access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref>
| region7          = {{flag|Nigeria}}
| pop7             = 30,000 (0.015% of its total population)<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pongou|first=Roland|date=2010-06-30|title=Nigeria: Multiple Forms of Mobility in Africa's Demographic Giant|url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/nigeria-multiple-forms-mobility-africas-demographic-giant|access-date=2020-10-29|website=migrationpolicy.org|language=en}}</ref>
| langs            = [[Tuareg languages]] ([[Tamahaq language|Tamahaq]], [[Tamasheq language|Tamasheq/Tafaghist]], [[Air Tamajeq language|Tamajeq]], [[Tawellemmet language|Tawellemmet]]), [[Maghrebi Arabic]], [[African French|French]] (those resident in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso), [[Hassaniya Arabic]] (those residing in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger), [[Nigerian English|English]] (those resident in Nigeria), [[Algerian Saharan Arabic]] (those residing in Algeria and Niger)
| rels             = [[Sunni Islam]]
| related          = Other [[Berbers]], [[Arab-Berber]]s and [[Arabized Berber]]s, [[Songhay people]], [[Hausa people]]
}}

The '''Tuareg people''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|w|ɑɹ|ɛ|ɡ}}; also spelled '''Twareg''' or '''Touareg'''; [[Endonym and exonym|endonym]], depending on [[Tuareg languages#Subclassification|variety]]: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anja Fischer / Imuhar (Tuareg) – designation|url=http://imuhar.eu/site/en/imuhartuareg/designation.php|access-date=2020-12-31|website=imuhar.eu}}</ref>) are a large [[Berbers|Berber]] ethnic group, traditionally [[nomad]]ic [[pastoralism|pastoralists]], who principally inhabit the [[Sahara]] in a vast area stretching from far southwestern [[Libya]] to southern [[Algeria]], [[Niger]], [[Mali]], [[Burkina Faso]], and as far as northern [[Nigeria]], with small communities in [[Chad]] and [[Sudan]] known as the ''Kinnin''.<ref name="Shoup" /><ref>"The total Tuareg population is well above one million individuals." Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie, ''Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World'', Elsevier, 2008, {{ISBN|9780080877747}}, p. 152.</ref><ref name="Assal2022" /><ref name="Jay1996" />

The Tuareg speak [[Tuareg languages|languages of the same name]], also known as ''Tamasheq'', which belong to the [[Berber languages|Berber]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic family]].<ref name="SIL">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/|title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|website=Ethnologue}}</ref>

They are a semi-nomadic people who mostly practice [[Islam]], and are descended from the indigenous Berber communities of Northern Africa, whose ancestry has been described as a mosaic of local [[North Africa|Northern African]] ([[Taforalt]]), [[Middle East]]ern, [[Genetic history of Europe|European]] ([[Early European Farmers]]), and [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]n, prior to the [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb]].<ref name="Levinson1996tua">{{cite book|last=Rasmussen|first=Susan J.|title=Encyclopedia of World Culture, Volume 9: Africa and the Middle East|publisher=G.K. Hall|year=1996|isbn=978-0-8161-1808-3|editor=Levinson|editor-first=David|pages=366–369|chapter=Tuareg}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arauna |first1=Lara R |last2=Comas |first2=David |date=2017-09-15 |title=Genetic Heterogeneity between Berbers and Arabs |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0027485 |journal=eLS |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0027485 |isbn=9780470016176 |quote=|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Some researchers have tied the origin of the Tuareg ethnicity with the fall of the [[Garamantes]], who inhabited the [[Fezzan]] (Libya) from the 1st millennium BC to the 5th century AD.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZA46PBGp0tUC&q=garamantes |title=The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade |date=2007-04-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-17987-9 |pages=13 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ottoni |first1=Claudio |last2=Larmuseau |first2=Maarten H. D. |last3=Vanderheyden |first3=Nancy |last4=Martínez-Labarga |first4=Cristina |last5=Primativo |first5=Giuseppina |last6=Biondi |first6=Gianfranco |last7=Decorte |first7=Ronny |last8=Rickards |first8=Olga |date=2011-05-01 |title=Deep into the roots of the Libyan Tuareg: a genetic survey of their paternal heritage |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21312181/ |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=145 |issue=1 |pages=118–124 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21473 |issn=1096-8644 |pmid=21312181}}</ref> Tuareg people are credited with spreading Islam in North Africa and the adjacent [[Sahel]] region.<ref name="Norris1976">{{cite book|last=Harry T. Norris|title=The Tuaregs: Their Islamic Legacy and Its Diffusion in the Sahel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ihzHQAACAAJ| year=1976|publisher=London: Warminster |isbn=978-0-85668-362-6|pages = 1–4, chapters 3, 4|oclc= 750606862}}; For an abstract, [http://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=760272166 ASC Leiden Catalogue]; For a review of Norris' book: {{cite journal | last=Stewart | first=C. C. | title=The Tuaregs: Their Islamic Legacy and its Diffusion in the Sahel. By H. T. Norris | journal=Africa | volume=47 | issue=4 | year=1977 | pages=423–424 | doi=10.2307/1158348| jstor=1158348 | s2cid=140786332 }}</ref>

Tuareg social structure has traditionally included [[clan]] membership, social status and [[caste]] hierarchies within each political confederation.<ref name="Gates2010p499">{{cite book |last=Heath |first=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0XNvklcqbwC |title=Encyclopedia of Africa |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-533770-9 |editor=Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates |pages=499–500}}</ref>{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=16, 17–22, 38–44}}<ref name="Tamari 1991 221–222, 228–250">{{cite journal | last=Tamari | first=Tal | title=The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa | journal=The Journal of African History | volume=32 | issue=2 | year=1991 | pages=221–222, 228–250 | doi=10.1017/s0021853700025718 | s2cid=162509491 }}</ref> The Tuareg have controlled several [[trans-Saharan trade]] routes and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the [[Scramble for Africa|colonial]] and [[Decolonisation of Africa|post-colonial]] eras.<ref name="Gates2010p499"/>

==Names==
The origins and meanings of the name ''Tuareg'' have long been debated. It would appear that ''Twārəg'' is derived from the [[broken plural]] of ''Tārgi'', a name whose former meaning was "inhabitant of ''Targa''", the Tuareg name of the [[Libya]]n region commonly known as [[Fezzan]]. ''Targa'' in Berber means "(drainage) channel".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ghoubeid|first1=Alojaly|title=Dictionnaire touareg-français|date=2003|publisher=Museum Tusculanum|isbn=978-87-7289-844-5|page=656|language=fr}}</ref> Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from ''Tuwariq'', the plural of the Arabic exonym ''Tariqi''.<ref name="Shoup">{{cite book|last1=Shoup|first1=John A. III|title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1598843637|page=295|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GN5yv3-U6goC&pg=PA295|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> Also compare [[Hassaniya Arabic]] ''Ṭwāreg'', plural of ''Ṭāreg'', ultimately derived from Berber ''targa'' {{gloss|drainage channel; Fezzan}}.

The term for a Tuareg man is ''Amajagh'' (variants: ''Amashegh'', ''Amahagh''), the term for a woman ''Tamajaq'' (variants: ''Tamasheq'', ''Tamahaq'', ''Timajaghen''). Spellings of the appellation vary by Tuareg dialect. They all reflect the same linguistic root, expressing the notion of "freemen". As such, the endonym strictly refers only to the Tuareg [[nobility]], not the artisanal client castes and the slaves.<ref>Hourst, pp. 200–201.</ref> Two other Tuareg self-designations are ''Kel Tamasheq'', meaning "speakers of [[Tuareg languages|Tamasheq]]", and ''Kel Tagelmust'', meaning "veiled people" in allusion to the [[tagelmust]] garment that is traditionally worn by Tuareg men.<ref name="Shoup"/>

The [[English language|English]] exonym "Blue People" is similarly derived from the [[indigo]] color of the tagelmust veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath giving it a blueish tint.<ref name="GearonEamonn">Gearon, Eamonn, (2011) ''The Sahara: A Cultural History'' Oxford University Press, p. 239</ref> Another term for the Tuareg is ''Imuhagh'' or ''Imushagh'', a cognate to the northern Berber self-name ''Imazighen''.<ref name="Minahan418">{{cite book|last=James B. Minahan|title=Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pGClDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA418|year=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-954-9|page=418}}</ref>

==Demography and languages==
[[File:Tuareg area.png|thumb|The traditional distribution of the Tuareg in the [[Sahara]]<ref name="Shoup"/>]]
The Tuareg today inhabit a vast area in the [[Sahara]], stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the far north of Nigeria.<ref name="Shoup"/> 
A small subgroup known as the Kinnin Tuareg have historically inhabited Northern Darfur, in what is now western Sudan, particularly around the region of Mellit. They are culturally and linguistically affiliated with the broader Tuareg group and have been documented in anthropological field studies.<ref name="Assal2022">Munzoul A. Assal, "Some Notes on the Tuareg (Kinin) of Northern Darfur, Sudan", in Aleksandar Bošković & Günther Schlee (eds.), ''African Political Systems Revisited: Changing Perspectives on Statehood and Power'', Berghahn Books, 2022, pp. 163–179. {{ISBN|9781800734722}}.</ref> Another community of Tuareg descent, also referred to as the Kinnin, has lived in and around the city of [[Abéché]] in eastern Chad since the early 20th century.<ref name="Jay1996">Jay, Monique (1996). "Quelques éléments sur les Kinnin d'Abbéché (Tchad)". ''Études et Documents Berbères''. No. 14, pp. 199–212. ISSN 0295-5245. ISBN 2-85744-972-0. Available at [https://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-et-documents-berberes-1996-1-page-199.htm Cairn.info].</ref> These groups trace their origin to migrations from Niger (especially Kel Denneg and Kel Gress tribes),<ref name="Jay1996" /> and while Tuareg customs are still present, many members have linguistically shifted to [[Chadian Arabic]] over time.<ref name="Jay1996" />

Their combined population in these territories exceeds 2.5 million, with an estimated population in Niger of around 2 million (11% of inhabitants) and in Mali of another 0.5 million (3% of inhabitants).<ref name=nigertuareg/><ref name="Imperato2008">Pascal James Imperato, Gavin H. Imperato (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=zf6xAAAAQBAJ&dq=Imperato+%282008%29+-+Tuareg&pg=PA320 Historical Dictionary of Mali], fourth Edition. Published by Historical Dictionary of Africa No. 107. Scarecrow Press. Inc.</ref>

The Tuareg are the majority ethnic group in the [[Kidal Region]] of northeastern Mali.<ref name="rudolph381">{{cite book|last=Joseph R. Rudolph Jr.|title=Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts, 2nd Edition &#91;2 volumes&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjkVCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA381|year=2015|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-553-4|page=381}}</ref>

The Tuareg traditionally speak the [[Tuareg languages]], also known as ''Tamasheq, Tamajeq'' or ''Tamahaq'', depending on the dialect.<ref>[https://www.ethnologue.com/language/taq Tamasheq: A language of Mali], Ethnologue</ref> These languages belong to the [[Berber languages|Berber]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic family]].<ref name="SIL"/> According to ''[[Ethnologue]]'', there are an estimated 1.2 million Tuareg speakers. Around half of this number consists of speakers of the eastern dialect (''Tamajaq'', ''Tawallammat'').<ref name="SIL"/> 

The exact number of Tuareg speakers per territory is uncertain. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] estimates that the Tuareg population in Mali constitutes approximately 0.9% of the national population (~150,000), whereas about 3.5% of local inhabitants speak Tuareg (Tamasheq) as a primary language.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mali/ Mali], CIA Factbook, Accessed on 7 November 2016</ref> In contrast, Imperato (2008) estimates that the Tuareg represent around 3% of Mali's population.<ref name="Imperato2008"/>

==History==

===Early history===
{{further|Azawad|Tin Hinan}}
[[File:Hocine Ziani - La reine Tin Hinan.jpg|thumb|An artist's representation of [[Tin Hinan]], an ancient queen of the [[Hoggar Mountains|Hoggar]]]]
In antiquity, the Tuareg moved southward from the [[Tafilalt]] region into the [[Sahel]] under the Tuareg founding queen [[Tin Hinan]], who is believed to have lived between the 4th and 5th centuries.<ref>Brett, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress [https://books.google.com/books?id=vdrAfKmUrLcC&dq=%22tin+hinan%22&pg=PA207 M1 ''The Berbers''] Wiley Blackwell 1997 {{ISBN|978-0631207672}} p. 208</ref> The matriarch's 1,500-year-old monumental [[Tin Hinan tomb]] is located in the Sahara at [[Abalessa]] in the [[Hoggar Mountains]] of southern Algeria. Vestiges of an inscription in [[Tifinagh]], the Tuareg's traditional Libyco-Berber writing script, have been found on one of the ancient sepulchre's walls.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Briggs|first=L. Cabot|title=A Review of the Physical Anthropology of the Sahara and Its Prehistoric Implications|journal=Man|date=February 1957|volume=56|pages=20–23|doi=10.2307/2793877|jstor=2793877}}</ref>

External accounts of interactions with the Tuareg are available from at least the 10th century onwards. [[Ibn Hawkal]] (10th century), [[Al-Bakri|El-Bekri]] (11th century), [[Edrisi]] (12th century), [[Ibn Battutah]] (14th century), and [[Leo Africanus]] (16th century) all documented the Tuareg in some form, usually as Mulatthamin or "the veiled ones". Of the early historians, 14th-century scholar [[Ibn Khaldûn]] probably wrote some of the most detailed commentary on the life and people of the Sahara, though he apparently never actually met them.<ref>Nicolaisen, Johannes and Ida Nicolaisen. The Pastoral Tuareg: Ecology, Culture and Society Vol. I & II. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997, p. 31.</ref>

===Colonial era===
{{see also|Kaocen revolt}}
{{see also|Kel Ajjer}}(History of their colonization)
[[File:MousaAgAmastane-Paris.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Tuareg chief [[Moussa Ag Amastan]] arriving in Paris, 1910]]
At the turn of the 19th century, the Tuareg territory was organised into confederations, each ruled by a supreme Chief (''Amenokal''), along with a council of elders from each tribe. These confederations were sometimes called "''Drum Groups''" after the Amenokal's symbol of authority, a drum. Clan (''Tewsit'') elders, called Imegharan (wisemen), were chosen to assist the chief of the confederation. Historically, there have been seven major confederations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.temehu.com/tuareg-confederacies.htm|title=Tuareg Confederacies, Federations & Twareg Territories of North Africa:الطوارق|website=temehu.com}}</ref>

* ''[[Kel Ajjer]]'' or Azjar: centred in the oasis of [[Ghat, Libya|Aghat]] (Ghat).
* ''[[Kel Ahaggar]]'', in [[Ahaggar]] mountains.
* ''[[Kel Adagh]]'', or ''Kel Assuk'': [[Kidal]] and [[Timbuktu]]
* ''[[Aulliminden|Iwillimmidan]] [[Kel Ataram]]'' or ''Western Iwillimmidan'': [[Ménaka]] and [[Azawagh]] regions (Mali)
* ''[[Aulliminden|Iwillimmidan]] [[Kel Denneg]]'', or ''Eastern Iwillimmidan'': [[Tchin-Tabaraden]], Abalagh, Teliya [[Azawagh]] (Niger).
* ''[[Kel Ayr]]'': [[Assodé]], [[Agadez]], [[In-Gall|In Gal]], [[Timia]] and Ifrwan.
* ''[[Kel Gres]]'': [[Zinder]] and Tanut ([[Tanout]]) and south into northern Nigeria.
* ''[[Kel Owey]]'': [[Aïr Massif]], seasonally south to [[Tessaoua]] (Niger)

In the mid-19th century, descriptions of the Tuareg and their way of life were made by the English traveller [[James Richardson (explorer)|James Richardson]] in his journeys across the Libyan Sahara in 1845–1846.<ref>Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 Containing a Narrative of Personal Adventures, During a Tour of Nine Months Through the Desert, Amongst the Touaricks and Other Tribes of Saharan People; Including a Description of the Oases and Cities of Ghat, Ghadames, and Mourzuk by James Richardson Project Gutenberg Release Date: July 17, 2007 [EBook #22094] Last Updated: April 7, 2018</ref>

In pre-colonial times the ''imuhagh'' were the noble warrior caste of the Tuareg feared by their neighbors.<ref>Gouvernement Général de l'Algérie: ''Deuxième Mission Flatters'', Algiers, 1882, p. 131, [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k503875m.texteImage], pdf, 16&nbsp;MB, retrieved on February 7, 2025</ref>  They proved their courage and skill in wars and raids.<ref>Henri Lhote: ''Les Touaregs du Hoggar'', Payot, Paris, 1955, p. 194pp</ref> Wars were rare, but raids, also known as ''rezzous'', were frequent. A successful rezzou was profitable and brought much recognition, which was also reflected in the songs and poetry of the Tuareg.<ref>Dominique Casajus, ''Art poétique et art de la guerre dans l'ancien monde touareg'', L'Homme, 1998, tome 38 n°146, pp. 147-149, [https://www.persee.fr/doc/hom_0439-4216_1998_num_38_146_370458], retrieved on May 29, 2025 </ref> The greatest glory was not achieved when great resistance had been overcome, but when the haul was great and the victims were taken by surprise through cunning.<ref>Adolphe Hanoteau, ''Essai de Grammaire de la langue Tamachek'', Librairie Adolphe Jourdan, Algiers, first edition 1860, p. XXIVp, [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1047497], file PDF, 13&nbsp;MB], retrieved on June 5, 2025</ref> The targets were often nomad camps of other Tuareg confederations with which they did not feel connected, but also the Chaambas, who nomadized in the northern Algerian Sahara, and the [[Toubou people]], [[Hausa people|Hausa]], and [[Fulani]] in the [[Sahel]] zone.<ref>Gabriel Gardel: ''Les Touareg Ajjer'', Edition Baconnier, 1961, pp. 108-192</ref>

The rezzou season usually began after the first rains. This ensured that the camels had enough food on the way there and back. Distant destinations were preferred, as rezzous often led to counter-rezzous, which were easier and quicker to organize over short distances.<ref>Andrew Alesbury, ''A Society in Motion: The Tuareg from the Pro-Colonial Area to Today'', Nomadic Peoples, Vol. 17 No.1, 2013, p. 109, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/43123923], retrieved on May 27, 2025</ref><ref group="nb">In 1860, there was a successful rezzou by 10 Tuareg over 1200 km from [[Djanet]] to the region of [[Timbuktu]]. Booty: 200–300 camels. Gabriel Gardel: ''Les Touareg Ajjer'', Edition Baconnier, Algiers, 1961, p. 127</ref> Everything that could be carried away was stolen, especially camels. However, through negotiations, it was possible for the victims to recover some or all of their loot later on.<ref>Gabriel Gardel, ''Les Touareg Ajjer'', Edition Baconnier, Algiers, 1961, p. 110, [https://books.google.ch/books/about/Les_Touareg_Ajjer.html?id=Ol-IMgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y], retrieved on May 28, 2025</ref> From the middle of the 19th century, their vassals (''imaghad'') also took part in the wars and raids and organized their own rezzous. This was the time when they were also allowed to own camels. - However, the many raids by the northern Tuareg in the second half of the 19th century led to their impoverishment, because they had to hurry on their way back, and many animals were lost due to exhaustion or straying from the group. - During the Tuareg's military campaigns, prisoners were also taken and then kept as slaves or sold, regardless of their previous social status.<ref>Andrew Alesbury, ''A Society in Motion: The Tuareg from the Pro-Colonial Area to Today'', Nomadic Peoples, Vol. 17 No.1 2013, p. 109, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/43123923], retrieved on May 27, 2025</ref> - During the period when their colonization was not yet complete (around 1900 to 1920), the French military commanders tolerated or authorized rezzous by ethnic groups that had submitted to them against those Tuareg tribes that resisted the French.<ref>Gabriel Gardel: ''Les Touareg Ajjer'', Edition Baconnier, 1961, p. 208</ref> Afterwards, all rezzous and military campaigns on their own behalf were prohibited.

In the late 19th century, the Tuareg resisted the [[Second French colonial empire|French colonial invasion]] of their central Saharan homelands and annihilated a French expedition led by [[Paul Flatters]] in 1881.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.africamission-mafr.org/foucauld2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023073845/http://www.africamission-mafr.org/foucauld2.htm |archive-date=23 October 2005 |title=Charles de Foucauld – Sera béatifié à l'automne 2005 |url-status=dead |access-date=21 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It was not until May 1902 that the French made a military advance into Hoggar territory. There they defeated the Kel Ahaggar in the Battle of Tit. This led to some of the Kel Ahaggar moving to Libya and into the territory of the Kel Ajjer. The others, under the leadership of the Amenocal Moussa ag Amastan, submitted to the French. - Some of the Kel Ajjer, who settled in south-eastern Algeria and south-western Libya, resisted colonization by France and were supported by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and later by the [[Senusiyya]]. Their leader was Sheikh Amoud Ag El Mokhtar. Well-armed, they fought fierce battles with the French between 1913 and 1920. Then their resistance collapsed. <ref>''Historique des Compagnies Méharistes'' chapter IV + V [http://sitelimafox.free.fr/HistoCM/HCMc04.htm], retrieved on April 8, 2025</ref><ref>M. Vacher: ''Brahim ag Abakada, Amghar des Ajjers'', Encyclopédie Berbère, 1992, section 8 [https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1833?lang=en], retrieved on February 9, 2025</ref>
After numerous massacres on the part of the French and the southern Tuareg,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.africamission-mafr.org/foucauld2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023073845/http://www.africamission-mafr.org/foucauld2.htm |archive-date=23 October 2005 |title=Charles de Foucauld – Sera béatifié à l'automne 2005 |url-status=dead |access-date=21 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> the Tuareg were defeated and forced to sign treaties in Mali in 1905 and Niger in 1917. 

French colonial administration of the Tuareg was largely based on supporting the existing social hierarchy. The French concluded that Tuareg rebellions were largely the result of reform policies that undermined the traditional chiefs. The colonial authorities wished to create a protectorate operating, ideally, through single chieftains who ruled under French sovereignty, but were autonomous within their territories. Thus French rule, relying on the loyalty of the Tuareg noble caste, did not improve the status of the slave class.<ref>Hall, B.S. (2011) ''A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge {{ISBN|9781139499088}}, pp. 181–182</ref>

[[File:Mali1974-151 hg.jpg|thumb|A Tuareg man in [[Mali]] with his slave, 1974]]

===Post-colonial era===
{{see also|Tuareg rebellion (disambiguation){{!}}Tuareg rebellions}}
When African countries achieved widespread independence in the 1960s, the traditional Tuareg territory was divided among a number of modern states: Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso. Political instability and competition for resources in the Sahel has since led to conflicts between the Tuareg and neighboring African groups. There have been tight restrictions placed on [[nomad|nomadic]] life because of high [[population growth]]. [[Desertification]] is exacerbated by over-exploitation of resources including firewood. This has pushed some Tuareg to experiment with farming; some have been forced to abandon herding and seek jobs in towns and cities.<ref name=peace>"Does Supply-Induced Scarcity Drive Violent Conflicts in the African Sahel? The Case of the Tuareg Rebellion in Northern Mali" (Nov., 2008) ''Journal of Peace Research'' Vol. 45, No. 6</ref>

Following the independence of Mali, a [[Tuareg rebellion (1962–1964)|Tuareg uprising]] broke out in the Adrar N'Fughas mountains in the 1960s, joined by Tuareg groups from the [[Adrar des Iforas]] in northeastern Mali. The Malian Army suppressed the revolt, but resentment among the Tuareg fueled further uprisings.<ref name=peace/>

[[File:Le Mali entame le dialogue avec les Touaregs (6972875286).jpg|thumb|Tuareg [[National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad|separatist rebels]] in Mali, January 2012]]
This [[Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995)|second (or third) uprising]] was in May 1990. In the aftermath of a clash between government soldiers and Tuareg outside a prison in [[Tchin-Tabaraden]], Niger, Tuareg in both Mali and Niger claimed independence for their traditional homeland: [[Ténéré]] in Niger, including their capital [[Agadez]], and the [[Azawad]] and [[Kidal]] regions of Mali.<ref>"A Political Analysis of Decentralisation: Coopting the Tuareg Threat in Mali" (Sep. 2001) ''The Journal of Modern African Studies'' Vol. 39, No. 3</ref>

Deadly clashes between Tuareg fighters, with leaders such as [[Mano Dayak]], and the military of both countries followed, with deaths into the thousands. Negotiations initiated by France and Algeria led to peace agreements in January 1992 in Mali and in 1995 in Niger, both arranging for decentralization of national power and the integration of Tuareg resistance fighters into the countries' national armies.<ref>"A Political Analysis of Decentralisation: Coopting the Tuareg Threat in Mali" (Sep. 2001) ''The Journal of Modern African Studies'' Vol. 39, No. 3</ref>

Major fighting between the Tuareg resistance and government security forces ended after the 1995 and 1996 agreements. As of 2004, sporadic fighting continued in Niger between government forces and Tuareg rebels. In 2007, a new [[Tuareg rebellion (2007–2009)|surge in violence]] occurred.<ref>{{cite web |last=Coleman |first=Denise Youngblood |date=June 2013 |title=Niger |url=http://www.countrywatch.com/country_profile.aspx?vcountry=127 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221185636/http://www.countrywatch.com/country_profile.aspx?vcountry=127 |archive-date=21 December 2013 |access-date=2013-10-09 |website=Country Watch}}</ref>

The development of [[Berberism]] in North Africa in the 1990s fostered a Tuareg ethnic revival.<ref>Jane E. Goodman (2005) ''Berber Culture on the World Stage: Village to Video'', Indiana University Press {{ISBN|978-0253217844}}</ref>

Since 1998, three different flags have been designed to represent the Tuareg.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Berbers: Armed movements|url=https://www.fotw.info/flags/xb%5Earm.html|access-date=13 January 2021|website=Flags Of The World}}</ref> In Niger, the Tuareg people remain socially and economically marginalized, remaining poor and unrepresented in Niger's central government.<ref>{{cite news |last=Elischer |first=Sebastian |title=After Mali Comes Niger |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138931/sebastian-elischer/after-mali-comes-niger |newspaper=Foreign Affairs |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |date=12 February 2013 |access-date=18 February 2013}}</ref>

On 21 March 2021, [[Islamic State in the Greater Sahara|IS-GS]] militants [[Tillia massacres|attacked]] several villages around [[Tillia]], Niger, killing 141 people. The main victims of the massacres were the Tuaregs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macé |first=Célian |title=Au Niger, l'escalade macabre de l'Etat islamique |url=https://www.liberation.fr/international/afrique/au-niger-les-tueries-a-repetition-de-letat-islamique-20210322_3YXC74YX6NHWPELFD5OH6MR3VQ/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Libération |language=fr}}</ref>

==Religion==
{{further|Berber mythology}}
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Tuareg tijdens het verrichten van het islamitisch avondgebed (maghrib) TMnr 20010320.jpg|thumb|Tuaregs in prayer, 1973]]<!-- files should flank the text per [[MOS:IMAGELOCATION]] -->
The Tuareg traditionally adhered to the [[Berber mythology]]. Archaeological excavations of prehistoric tombs in the Maghreb have yielded skeletal remains that were painted with [[ochre]]. Although this ritual practice was known to the [[Iberomaurusian]]s, the custom seems instead to have been primarily derived from the ensuing [[Capsian culture]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ouachi|first=Moustapha|title=The Berbers and the death|publisher=El-Haraka}}</ref> Megalithic tombs, such as the [[Jedars|jedar]] sepulchres, were erected for religious and funerary practices. In 1926, one such tomb was discovered south of [[Casablanca]]. The monument was engraved with funerary inscriptions in the ancient Libyco-Berber writing script known as [[Tifinagh]], which the Tuareg still use.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ouachi|first=Moustapha|title=The Berbers and rocks|publisher=El-Haraka}}</ref>

During the medieval period, the Tuareg adopted [[Islam]] after its arrival with the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] in the 7th century.<ref name="Norris1976"/> In the 16th century, under the tutelage of El Maghili,<ref name="Brfo">{{cite news|url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/tuareg/index.php|title=The Tuareg the Nomadic inhabitants of North Africa|work=Bradshaw Foundation|access-date=2017-10-11|language=en}}</ref> the Tuareg embraced the [[Maliki]] school of [[Sunni]] Islam, which they now primarily follow.<ref name="Weissleder1978p17">{{cite book|last=Wolfgang Weissleder|title=The Nomadic Alternative: Modes and Models of Interaction in the African-Asian Deserts and Steppes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRyqfpi5BKcC&pg=PA17|year=1978|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-081023-3|page=17}}, Quote: "The religion of the Tuareg is Maliki Sunni Islam"</ref> The Tuareg helped spread Islam further into the [[Sudan (region)|Western Sudan]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schlichte|first=Klaus|date=1994-03-01|title=Is ethnicity a cause of war?|journal=Peace Review|volume=6|issue=1|pages=59–65|doi=10.1080/10402659408425775|issn=1040-2659}}</ref> While Islam is the religion of the contemporary Tuareg, historical documents suggest that they initially resisted Islamization efforts in their traditional strongholds.<ref>{{cite book|last=Susan Rasmussen|title=Neighbors, Strangers, Witches, and Culture-Heroes: Ritual Powers of Smith/Artisans in Tuareg Society and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kc4DAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA22|year=2013|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-7618-6149-2|page=22}}, Quote: "Historically, Tuareg and other Berber (Amazigh) peoples initially resisted Islam in their mountain and desert fortresses"</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bruce S. Hall|title=A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_0EA2DrmUkC |year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49908-8|page=124}}, Quote: "We remind ourselves that the Tuareg carries this name for having long resisted and refused Islamization."</ref> 

According to the anthropologist Susan Rasmussen, after the Tuareg had adopted the religion, they were reputedly lax in their prayers and observances of other Muslim precepts. Some of their ancient beliefs still exist today subtly within their culture and tradition, such as elements of pre-Islamic cosmology and rituals, particularly among Tuareg women, or the widespread "cult of the dead", which is a form of [[ancestor veneration]]. For example, Tuareg religious ceremonies contain allusions to matrilineal spirits, as well as to fertility, menstruation, the earth and ancestresses.<ref name="Levinson1996tua"/> Norris (1976) suggests that this apparent syncretism may stem from the influence of [[Sufism|Sufi]] Muslim preachers on the Tuareg.<ref name="Norris1976"/>

The Tuaregs have been one of the influential ethnic groups in the spread of Islam and its legacy in North Africa and adjacent Sahel.<ref name="Norris1976"/> [[Timbuktu]], an important Islamic center famed for its [[ulama]], was established by Imasheghen Tuareg at the start of the 12th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hunwick |first=John O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdEsWyzLnD8C&pg=PA29 |title=Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613 |publisher=BRILL Academic |year=2003 |isbn=978-90-04-12822-4 |pages=29 with footnote 1 and 2}}</ref> It flourished under the protection and rule of a Tuareg confederation.<ref>{{cite journal|last= John Hunwick|title= Timbuktu: A Refuge of Scholarly and Righteous Folk| journal= Sudanic Africa|volume= 14 |year= 2003| pages= 13–20 |publisher= Brill Academic | jstor=25653392}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=John Glover|title=Sufism and Jihad in Modern Senegal: The Murid Order|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hn3jLfdvoNEC |year=2007|publisher=University of Rochester Press|isbn=978-1-58046-268-6|pages=28–29}}</ref> However, modern scholars believe that there is insufficient evidence to pinpoint the exact time of origin and founders of Timbuktu, although it is archeologically clear that the city originated from local trade between the Middle Niger Delta, on the one hand, and between the [[pastoralists]] of the Sahara, long before the first [[Hijri year|hijra]].{{sfn|Saad|1983|p=6}} Monroe asserts, based on archaeological evidence, that Timbuktu emerged from an urban-rural dynamic, that is, aiming to provide services to its immediate rural [[hinterland]].<ref name="Monroe, J. Cameron 2017">{{cite journal|last=Monroe, J. Cameron|title="Elephants for Want of Towns": Archaeological Perspectives on West African Cities and Their Hinterlands |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research|date=2018 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=387–446|doi=10.1007/s10814-017-9114-2}}</ref>

In 1449, a Tuareg ruling house founded the [[Sultanate of Agadez|Tenere Sultanate of Aïr]] (Sultanate of Agadez) in the city of [[Agadez]] in the [[Aïr Mountains]].<ref name="Minahan418"/> 

18th century Tuareg Islamic scholars such as [[Jibril ibn Umar|Jibril ibn 'Umar]] later preached the value of revolutionary jihad. Inspired by these teachings, Ibn 'Umar's student [[Usman dan Fodio]] led the [[Jihad of Usman dan Fodio|Sokoto jihads]] and established the [[Sokoto Caliphate]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kevin Shillington|title=History of Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdscBQAAQBAJ |year=2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-00333-1|pages=231–232}}</ref>

==Society==
Tuareg society has traditionally featured clan membership, social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation.<ref name="Gates2010p499"/>

===Clans===
[[File:Tuareg.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|A Tuareg from [[Algeria]]]]
Clans have been a historic part of the Tuaregs. The 7th century invasion of North Africa from the Middle East triggered an extensive migration of Tuaregs such as the Lemta and the Zarawa, along with other fellow [[pastoralism|pastoral]] Berbers.<ref name="Levinson1996tua"/> Further invasions of [[Banu Hilal]] and [[Banu Sulaym]] Arab tribes into Tuareg regions in the 11th century moved the Tuareg south into seven clans, which the [[oral tradition]] of Tuaregs claims are descendants of the same mother.<ref name="Levinson1996tua"/><ref name="Nicolaisen1963">{{cite book|last=Johannes Nicolaisen|title=Ecology and Culture of the Pastoral Tuareg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLUbAAAAIAAJ| year=1963|publisher=New York: Thames and Hudson; Copenhagen: Rhodos|pages=411–412|oclc= 67475747}}</ref>

Each Tuareg clan (''tawshet'') is made up of family groups constituting a tribe,{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=16, 17–22, 38–44}} each led by its chief, the ''amghar''. A series of ''tawsheten'' (plural of ''tawshet'') may bond together under an ''[[Amenokal]]'', forming a ''Kel'' clan confederation. Tuareg self-identification is related only to their specific ''Kel'', which means "those of". For example, ''Kel Dinnig'' (those of the east), ''Kel Ataram'' (those of the west).{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=20–21}}

The position of ''amghar'' is hereditary through a matrilineal principle; it is usual for the son of a sister of the incumbent chieftain to succeed to his position. The ''amenokal'' is elected in a ritual which differs between groups. The individual amghar who lead the clans making up the confederation usually have the deciding voice.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=20–21}} The matrilineal inheritance and mythology among Tuareg clans, states Susan Rasmussen, is a cultural vestige from the pre-Islamic era of the Tuareg society.<ref name="Levinson1996tua"/>

According to Rasmussen, Tuareg society exhibits a blend of pre-Islamic and Islamic practices.<ref name="Levinson1996tua"/> Patrilineal Muslim values are believed to have been superimposed upon the Tuareg's traditional matrilineal society. Other apparently newer customs include close-cousin endogamous marriages and [[polygyny]] in conformity with Islamic tenets. Polygyny, which has been witnessed among Tuareg chiefs and Islamic scholars, is in turn thought to have been contrary to the pre-Islamic monogamous tradition of the nomadic Tuareg.<ref name="Levinson1996tua"/>

===Social stratification===
Tuareg society has featured caste hierarchies within each clan and political confederation.<ref name="Gates2010p499"/>{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=16, 17–22, 38–44}}<ref name="Tamari 1991 221–222, 228–250"/> These hierarchical systems have included nobles, clerics, craftsmen and unfree strata of people including widespread slavery.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rudolph |first=Joseph Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjkVCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA380 |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts, 2nd Edition |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-61069-553-4 |pages=380–381}}, Quote: "The Tuareg are seminomadic people of Berber origin. There are various Tuareg clans and confederation of clans. Historically, Tuareg groups are composed of hierarchical caste systems within clans, including noble warriores, religious leaders, craftsmen, and those who are unfree".</ref><ref name="Heath2005p7">{{cite book |last=Heath |first=Jeffrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWMR_TGTZasC&pg=PA7 |title=A Grammar of Tamashek, Tuareg of Mali |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2005 |isbn=978-3-11-090958-6 |pages=7–8}}</ref>

====Nobility, vassals and clerics====
[[File:Tuareg2.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|Tuareg man from Algeria]]
Traditionally, Tuareg society is hierarchical, with [[nobility]] and vassals. The linguist [[Karl-Gottfried Prasse]] (1995) indicates that the nobles constitute the highest caste.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=16–17}} They are known in the Tuareg language as ''imušaɣ/imuhaɣ/imajăɣăn'' "the proud and free".<ref name="Gates2010p499"/> 

The nobles originally had a monopoly on carrying arms and owning camels, and were the warriors of the Tuareg regions.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=16}} They may have achieved their social status by subjugating other Tuareg castes, keeping arms to defend their properties and vassals. They have collected tribute from their vassals. This warrior nobility has traditionally married within their caste, not to individuals in strata below their own.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=16}} 

A collection of tribes, each led by a noble, forms a confederation whose chieftain, the ''amănokal'', is elected from among the nobles by the tribal chiefs.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=16–17}}<ref name="Heath2005p7"/> The chieftain is the overlord during times of war, and receives tribute and taxes from tribes as a sign of their submission to his authority.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=20}}

The vassal-herdsmen are the second free stratum within Tuareg society, occupying a position just below that of the nobles.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=17}} They are known as ''ímɣad'' (''Imghad'', singular ''Amghid'') in the Tuareg language.<ref name="Heath2005p7"/> Although the vassals were free, they did not own camels but instead kept donkeys and herds of goats, sheep and oxen. They pastured and tended their own herds as well those owned by the nobles of the confederation.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=17}} The vassal strata have traditionally paid an annual ''tiwse'', or tribute to the nobles as a part of their status obligations, and hosted any noble who was traveling through their territory.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=17–18}} 

In the late Medieval era, states Prasse, the previously existing weapon monopoly of the nobility broke down after regional wars took a heavy toll on the noble warrior strata, and thereafter the vassals carried weapons as well and were recruited as warriors.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=17–18}} After the start of the French colonial rule, which deprived the nobles of their powers over war and taxation, the Tuaregs belonging to the noble strata disdained tending cattle and tilling the land, seeking instead soldiering or intellectual work.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=17–18}}

A semi-noble stratum of the Tuareg people has been the endogamous religious clerics, the ''[[marabout]]s'' (Tuareg: ''Ineslemen'', a loan word that means Muslim in Arabic).{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=17–18}} After the adoption of Islam, they became integral to the Tuareg social structure.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Stewart | first=C. C. | title=The Tuaregs: Their Islamic Legacy and its Diffusion in the Sahel. By H. T. Norris | journal=Africa | volume=47 | issue=4 | year=1977 | pages=423–424 | doi=10.2307/1158348 | jstor=1158348 | s2cid=140786332 }}</ref> According to Norris (1976), this stratum of Muslim clerics has been a sacerdotal caste, which propagated Islam in North Africa and the Sahel between the 7th and 17th centuries.<ref name="Norris1976"/> Adherence to the faith was initially centered around this caste, but later spread to the wider Tuareg community.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heath|first=Jeffrey|title=A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)|date=2005|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3110909586|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWMR_TGTZasC&pg=PA7|access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref> The marabouts have traditionally been the judges (''qadi'') and religious leaders (''imam'') of a Tuareg community.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=17–18}}
[[File:1997 277-31A Tuareg.jpg|thumb|upright|Tuareg men near [[Tahoua]], [[Niger]]]]

====Castes====
[[File:Tuareg with a sword in Timbuktu, Mali.jpg|thumb|258x258px|A Tuareg from a southern clan in typical clothing in [[Timbuktu]], [[Mali]]]]
According to anthropologist Jeffrey Heath, Tuareg artisans belong to separate [[endogamy|endogamous]] castes known as the ''Inhăḍăn'' (''[[Inadan (African caste)|Inadan]]'').<ref name="Heath2005p7"/>{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=18}} These have included blacksmith, jeweler, wood worker and leather artisan castes.<ref name="Heath2005p7"/> They produced and repaired the saddles, tools, household items and other items for the Tuareg community. In Niger and Mali, where the largest Tuareg populations are found, the artisan castes were attached as clients to a family of nobles or vassals, carried messages over distances for their patron family, and traditionally sacrificed animals during Islamic [[Festival|festivals]].{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=18}}

These social strata, like caste systems found in many parts of West Africa, included singers, musicians and story tellers of the Tuareg, who kept their [[oral tradition]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=David C. Conrad|last2=Barbara E. Frank|title=Status and Identity in West Africa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzeVS6pYS7YC&pg=PA67|year=1995|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-11264-4|pages=67–74}}</ref> They are called ''Agguta'' by Tuareg, have been called upon to sing during ceremonies such as weddings or funerals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stone |first=Ruth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEeTAgAAQBAJ |title=The Garland Handbook of African Music |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-135-90001-4 |pages=249–250}}, Quote: "In Mali, Niger and southern Algeria, Tuareg griots of the artisanal caste practice a related tradition. Known to the Tuareg as agguta, they typically entertain at weddings (...)"</ref> The origins of the artisanal castes are unclear. One theory posits a [[Jews|Jewish]] derivation, a proposal that Prasse calls "a much vexed question".{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=18}} Their association with fire, iron and precious metals and their reputation for being cunning tradesmen has led others to treat them with a mix of admiration and distrust.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=18}}

According to Rasmussen, the Tuareg castes are not only hierarchical, as each caste differs in mutual perception, food and eating behaviors. For example, she relates an explanation by a smith on why there is endogamy among Tuareg castes in Niger. The smith explained, "nobles are like rice, smiths are like millet, slaves are like corn".<ref>Susan Rasmussen (1996), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3630236 Matters of Taste: Food, Eating, and Reflections on "The Body Politic" in Tuareg Society], Journal of Anthropological Research, University of Chicago Press, Volume 52, Number 1 (Spring, 1996), page 61, Quote: "'Nobles are like rice, smiths are like millet, and slaves are like corn', said Hado, a smith from the Kel Ewey confederation of Tuareg near Moun Bagzan in northeastern Niger. He was explaining to me the reasons for endogamy."</ref>

The people who farm oases in some Tuareg-dominated areas form a distinct group known as ''izeggaghan'' (or ''hartani'' in Arabic). Their origins are unclear but they often speak both Tuareg dialects and Arabic, though a few communities are Songhay speakers.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=19–20}} Traditionally, these local peasants were subservient to the warrior nobles who owned the oasis and the land. The peasants tilled these fields, whose output they gave to the nobles after keeping a fifth part of the produce.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=19–20}} Their Tuareg patrons were usually responsible for supplying agricultural tools, seed and clothing. The peasants' origins are also unclear. One theory postulates that they are descendants of ancient people who lived in the Sahara before they were dominated by invading groups. In contemporary times, these peasant strata have blended in with freed slaves and farm arable lands together.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=19–20}}

====Slaves====
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| footer = ''Bellah'' constitute the historic slave stratum within Tuareg society.<ref name="Hall2011p5"/>
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The Tuareg confederations acquired slaves, often of [[Nilotic peoples|Nilotic]] origin,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gaston |first=Tony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ocm2DwAAQBAJ&dq=ikelan+nilotic&pg=PT72 |title=African Journey: A Voyage on the Sea of Humanity |date=2019-10-15 |publisher=FriesenPress |isbn=978-1-5255-4981-6 |language=en}}</ref> as well as tribute-paying states in raids on surrounding communities.<ref name="Gates2010p499"/> They also took captives as war booty or purchased slaves in markets.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=18, 50–54}} The slaves or servile communities are locally called ''[[Ikelan]]'' (or ''Iklan'', ''Eklan''), and slavery is inherited, with the descendants of the slaves known as ''irewelen''.<ref name="Gates2010p499"/>{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=18}}

They often live in communities separate from other castes. The Ikelan's Nilotic extraction is denoted via the [[Tamahaq language|Ahaggar Berber]] word ''Ibenheren'' (sing. ''Ébenher'').<ref name="Nicolaisen">{{cite book|last=Nicolaisen|first=Johannes|title=Ecology and Culture of the Pastoral Tuareg: With Particular Reference to the Tuareg of Ahaggar and Ayr|date=1963|publisher=National Museum of Copenhagen| page=16| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLUbAAAAIAAJ|access-date=6 November 2016}}</ref>

The word ''ikelan'' is the plural form of "slave",<ref>{{cite book|last=Hsain Ilahiane|title=Historical Dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0E8qp_k515oC&pg=PA61|year=2006|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-6490-0|pages=61–62}}, Quote: "IKLAN. This term refers to all former black slaves and domestic serfs of traditional Tuareg society. The term iklan is plural form for'slave'."</ref> an allusion to most of the slaves.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=18, 50–54}} In post-colonial literature, the alternate terms for ''Ikelan'' include "Bellah-iklan" or just "Bellah", derived from a [[Songhay languages|Songhay]] word.<ref name="Hall2011p5">{{cite book |last=Hall |first=Bruce S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_0EA2DrmUkC |title=A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-139-49908-8 |pages=5, 7–8, 220}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mann |first=Gregory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PasPBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=From Empires to NGOs in the West African Sahel |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-107-01654-5 |pages=110–111 with footnote 73}}</ref>

According to historian Priscilla Starratt (1981), the Tuareg evolved a system of slavery that was highly differentiated. They established strata among their slaves, which determined rules as to the slave's expected behavior, marriageability, inheritance rights if any, and occupation.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Starratt | first=Priscilla Ellen | title=Tuareg slavery and slave trade | journal=Slavery & Abolition | volume=2 | issue=2 | year=1981 | pages=83–113 | doi=10.1080/01440398108574825 }}</ref> The ''Ikelan'' later became a bonded caste within Tuareg society, and they now speak the same Tamasheq language as Tuareg nobles and share many customs.<ref name="Nicolaisen"/> According to Heath, the ''Bella'' in Tuareg society were the slave caste whose occupation was rearing and herding livestock such as sheep and goats.<ref name="Heath2005p7"/>

French colonial governments stopped the acquisition of new slaves and slave trading in markets, but they did not remove or free domestic slaves from the Tuareg owners who had acquired them before French rule.{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|p=19}}<ref>{{cite book|last=[[Martin A. Klein]]|title=Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NnSmbqbtfoC|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-59678-7|pages=111–112}}</ref> In Tuareg society, like many others in West Africa, slave status was inherited, and the upper strata used slave children for domestic work, at camps and as dowry gifts to newlyweds.<ref>{{cite book|last=Martin A. Klein|title=Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NnSmbqbtfoC|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-59678-7|page=xviii, 138–139}}</ref>{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=49–54}}{{Sfn|Karl G. Prasse|1995|pp=50–51}}

[[File:Cérémonie de la fête de Bianou Août 2022 41.jpg|thumb|Tuareg from Agadez, Niger]]
According to Bernus (1972), Brusberg (1985) and Mortimore (1972), French colonial interests in the Tuareg region were primarily economic, and they had no intention of ending the slave-owning institution.<ref>[http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_5/b_fdi_04-05/05798.pdf Edouard Bernus. "Les palmeraies de l'Aïr", Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Méditerranée, 11, (1972) pp. 37–50];<br/>Frederick Brusberg. "Production and Exchange in the Saharan Aïr ", ''Current Anthropology'', Vol. 26, No. 3. (Jun., 1985), pp. 394–395. ''Field research on the economics of the Aouderas valley, 1984.'';<br/>Michael J. Mortimore. "The Changing Resources of Sedentary Communities in Aïr, Southern Sahara", ''Geographical Review'', Vol. 62, No. 1. (Jan., 1972), pp. 71–91.</ref> Historian [[Martin A. Klein]] (1998) says that although French colonial rule indeed did not end domestic slavery in Tuareg society, the French reportedly attempted to impress upon the nobles the equality of the Imrad{{Definition needed|date=August 2023|reason=The Imrad are presumably a slave caste, but are not described in this article.}} and Bella and to encourage the slaves to claim their rights.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klein |first=Martin A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NnSmbqbtfoC |title=Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-59678-7 |pages=138–139}}</ref> 

He suggests that there was a large scale attempt by [[French West Africa]]n authorities to liberate slaves and other bonded castes in Tuareg areas following the 1914–1916 Firouan revolt.<ref>Klein (1998) pp.111–140</ref> Despite this, French officials following the [[World War II|Second World War]] reported that there were some 50,000 ''Bella'' under direct control of Tuareg masters in the Gao–Timbuktu area of [[French Sudan]] alone.<ref>Klein (1998) p. 234</ref> This was at least four decades after French declarations of mass freedom in other areas of the colony.

In 1946, a series of mass desertions of Tuareg slaves and bonded communities began in [[Nioro du Sahel|Nioro]] and later in [[Ménaka]], quickly spreading along the Niger River valley.<ref>Klein (1998) pp. 234–251</ref> In the first decade of the 20th century, French administrators in southern Tuareg areas of the French Sudan estimated that "free" to "servile" groups within Tuareg society existed at ratios of 1 to 8 or 9.<ref name=Klein1998ApI>Klein (1998) "Appendix I:How Many Slaves?" pp. 252–263</ref> At the same time, the servile ''rimaibe'' population of the [[Masina, Kinshasa|Masina]] [[Fula people|Fulbe]], roughly equivalent to the ''Bella'', constituted between 70% and 80% of the Fulbe population, while servile Songhay groups around [[Gao]] made up some 2/3 to 3/4 of the total Songhay population.<ref name=Klein1998ApI/> Klein concludes that approximately 50% of the population of French Sudan at the beginning of the 20th century was in some servile or slave relationship.<ref name=Klein1998ApI/>

While post-independence states have sought to outlaw slavery, results have been mixed. Certain Tuareg communities still uphold the institution.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIkAAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|title=Tuareg Society within a Globalized World|access-date=4 November 2015|isbn=9780857719249|last1=Kohl|first1=Ines|last2=Fischer|first2=Anja|date=2010-10-31|publisher=I.B.Tauris }}</ref> Traditional caste relationships have continued in many places, including slaveholding.<ref>[http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/PDF/Full%2520English%2520Slavery%2520in%2520Niger.pdf Anti-Slavery International & Association Timidira, Galy kadir Abdelkader, ed. ''Niger: Slavery in Historical, Legal and Contemporary Perspectives''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306073532/http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/PDF/Full%20English%20Slavery%20in%20Niger.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051214234500/http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/PDF/Full%20English%20Slavery%20in%20Niger.pdf |archive-date=2005-12-14 |url-status=live |date=6 March 2009 }}. March 2004</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4250709.stm Hilary Andersson, "Born to be a slave in Niger"], BBC Africa, Niger;<br/>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030208075614/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1206_021205_salakkayak.html "Kayaking to Timbuktu, Writer Sees Slave Trade, More"], ''National Geographic''.;<br/>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=813618&page=1 |title=The Shackles of Slavery in Niger |publisher=ABC News |date=2005-06-03 |access-date=21 October 2013}};<br/>{{cite web |url=http://www.irinnews.org/report/53497/niger-slavery-an-unbroken-chain |title=Niger: Slavery – an unbroken chain |publisher=Irinnews.org |access-date=21 October 2013|date=2005-03-21 }};<br/>[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0310/p07s01-woaf.html "On the way to freedom, Niger's slaves stuck in limbo"], ''Christian Science Monitor''</ref> In Niger, where the practice of slavery was outlawed in 2003, according to ABC News, almost 8% of the population are still enslaved.<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=813618&page=1 "The Shackles of Slavery in Niger"], ABC News</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that many slaves held by the Tuareg in Mali were liberated during 2013–14 when French troops intervened on behalf of the Malian government against Islamic radicals.<ref>{{cite news |last=Raghavan |first=Sudarsan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/timbuktus-slaves-liberated-as-islamists-flee/2013/05/31/ea4d3e1a-c142-11e2-9aa6-fc21ae807a8a_story.html |title=Timbuktu's slaves liberated as Islamists flee |date=1 June 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/02/14/mali-slavery/1920579/|title=Mali slavery problem persists after French invasion|date=14 February 2013|work=USA TODAY|access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref>

====Chronology====
[[File:Touareg-blacksmith.jpg|thumb|upright|Tuareg [[blacksmith]]]]
Tuareg social stratification into noble, clerical and artisanal castes likely emerged after the 10th century, as a corollary of the rising slavery system.<ref name="DeCorse2001p17">{{cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Fcr1HSZXNgC |title=West Africa During the Atlantic Slave Trade: Archaeological Perspectives |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7185-0247-8 |editor=DeCorse |editor-first=Christopher R. |pages=17–18}}</ref> Similar caste institutions are found in other communities in Africa.<ref>{{cite book|last=Adda Bruemmer Bozeman|title=Conflict in Africa: Concepts and Realities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1F9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA280|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-6742-4|pages=280–282 with footnotes}}</ref> According to anthropologist Tal Tamari, linguistic evidence suggests that the Tuareg blacksmith and bard [[endogamous]] castes evolved under foreign contact with [[Sudanic people]]s, since the Tuareg terms for "blacksmith" and "bard" are of non-Berber origin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conrad |first=David C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzeVS6pYS7YC&pg=PA77 |title=Status and Identity in West Africa |last2=Frank |first2=Barbara E. |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-253-11264-4 |pages=75–77, 79–81}}</ref> The designation for the endogamous blacksmiths among the southern Tuareg is ''gargassa'', a [[cognate]] of the Songhay ''garaasa'' and [[Fulani]] ''garkasaa6e'', whereas it is ''enaden'' among the northern Tuareg, meaning "the other".<ref name="Tamari 1991p13c">{{cite journal | last=Tamari | first=Tal | title=The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa | journal=The Journal of African History | volume=32 | issue=2 | year=1991 | pages=221–250 | doi=10.1017/s0021853700025718 | s2cid=162509491 }}</ref>

Archaeological work by Rod McIntosh and Susan Keech McIntosh indicates that long-distance trade and specialized economies existed in the Western Sudan at an early date. During the 9th and 10th centuries, Berbers and Arabs built upon these pre-existing [[trade routes]] and quickly developed trans-Saharan and sub-Saharan transport networks. Successive local Muslim kingdoms developed increasing sophistication in their martial capacity, slave raiding, holding and trading systems. Among these Islamic states were the [[Ghana Empire]] (11th century), the [[Mali Empire]] (13th and 14th centuries), and the [[Songhay Empire]] (16th century).<ref name="DeCorse2001p17"/> Slavery created a template for servile relationships, which developed into more complex castes and [[social stratification]].<ref name="DeCorse2001p19">{{cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Fcr1HSZXNgC |title=West Africa During the Atlantic Slave Trade: Archaeological Perspectives |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7185-0247-8 |editor=DeCorse |editor-first=Christopher R. |pages=17–21}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{Further|Matrilineality#Tuareg}}
[[File:Nomad-Tuaregs.jpg|thumb|Tuareg [[nomad]]s in southern Algeria]]
Tuareg culture is largely [[matrilineal]].<ref name=Haven07>{{cite web |last=Haven |first=Cynthia |url=http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2007/pr-tuareg-052307.html |title=New exhibition highlights the 'artful' Tuareg of the Sahara |quote=A Stanford Univ. news article of 23 May 2007 |publisher=News.stanford.edu |date=2007-05-23 |access-date=21 October 2013}}</ref><ref>Spain, Daphne (1992). ''Gendered Spaces''. Univ. of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|0-8078-2012-1}}, p. 57.</ref><ref name="Review66">Murphy, Robert F. (April 1966). Untitled review of a 1963 major ethnographic study of the Tuareg. ''American Anthropologist, New Series, 68 (1966), No. 2'', 554–556.</ref> Other distinctive aspects of Tuareg culture include clothing, food, education, language, religion, arts, astronomy, nomadic architecture, traditional weapons, music, films, games, and economic activities.

===Clothing=== <!-- a redirect target for links from other articles -->
In Tuareg society women do not traditionally wear the [[face veil]], whereas men do.<ref name=Haven07/><ref name=Review66/> The most famous Tuareg symbol is the ''[[tagelmust]]'' (also called éghéwed and, in Arabic, ''[[litham]]''), sometimes referred to as a cheche (pronounced "shesh"), a combined turban and veil, often indigo-blue colored. The men's facial covering originates from the belief that such action wards off evil spirits. It may have related instrumentally from the need for protection from the harsh desert sands as well. 

It is a firmly established tradition, as is the wearing of [[amulet]]s containing sacred objects and, recently, verses from the ''[[Qur'an]]''. Taking on the veil is associated with the rite of passage to manhood. Men begin wearing a veil when they reach maturity. The veil usually conceals their face, excluding their eyes and the top of the nose.

[[File:Tuareg woman from Mali January 2007.jpg|thumb|A Tuareg woman from [[Mali]] in traditional garb]]

Names for traditional clothing include:
* ''[[tagelmust]]'': turban – men
* ''bukar'': black cotton turban – men
* ''[[tasuwart]]'': women's veil
* ''[[takatkat]]'': shirt – women and men
* ''[[takarbast]]'': short shirt – women and men
* ''[[akarbey]]'': pants worn by men
* ''[[afetek]]'': loose shirt worn by women
* ''afer'': women's [[pagne]]
* ''tari'': large black pagne for winter season
* ''[[Burnous|bernuz]]'': long woolen cloth for winter
* ''[[akhebay]]'': loose bright green or blue cloth for women
* ''[[ighateman]]'': shoes
* ''[[iragazan]]'': red leather sandals
* ''[[ibuzagan]]'': leather shoes
The traditional indigo turban is still preferred for celebrations, and generally Tuareg wear clothing and turbans in a variety of colors.

===Food===
[[Taguella|Tagella]] is a flatbread made from wheat flour and cooked on a [[charcoal]] fire; the flat disk-shaped bread is buried under the hot sand. The bread is broken into small pieces and eaten with a meat sauce. [[Millet]] [[porridge]] called ''a cink'' or ''a liwa'' is a staple much like [[ugali]] and [[fufu]]. Millet is boiled with water to make a pap and eaten with milk or a heavy sauce. Common dairy foods are goat and [[camel milk]], called ''akh'', as well as a cheese, ''ta komart'', and ''tona'', a thick [[yogurt]], made from them. [[Eghajira]] is a beverage drunk with a [[ladle (spoon)|ladle]], made by pounding millet, [[goat cheese]], [[date (fruit)|dates]], milk, and sugar, served at festivals.

Just like in Morocco, the local popular tea, called ''atay'' or ''ashay'', is made from [[Gunpowder Tea|gunpowder green tea]] with much sugar added. After steeping, it is poured three times in and out of the teapot over the tea, mint leaves and sugar and served by pouring from a height of over a foot into small tea glasses with a froth on top.

=== Education ===
[[File:Nomad children doing homework.tif|thumb|1991: Nomadic children doing homework. Oued Samene, southeast Algeria]]
When raising their nomadic children, the Tuareg placed great importance on ensuring that they were able to establish many connections with the outside world and get to know as large a social network as possible. In 1998, seven-year-old Tuareg children were tested on this knowledge and it was astonishing how they were able to list the ancestors and relatives of a Targi unknown to them, regardless of his original origin or geographical distance..<ref>Hélène Claudot-Hawad: ''La hiérarchie des savoirs et des pouvoirs dans la société touarègue précoloniale et la recomposition des rôles socio-politiques pendant la guerre anticoloniale et après la défaite'', Nomadic Peoples 2 (1–2), 1998, pp. 17–38</ref>  Other forms of knowledge in the socio-cultural sphere were also encouraged, e.g., the mastery of other languages, even including language stays with allies or customers. (This applied to boys, as men were responsible for relations with the outside world.) The promotion of memory was also evident when a Targi remembered a single encounter ten years ago on a desert track that lasted only a few minutes, in a specific place and context that was described in detail.

The pursuit of knowledge in many forms, but with the awareness that it should promote mobility, communication, and adaptability, has been noted by many observers. For example, a young Targia from a religious background said that she had received a dual education, in a medersa, a Muslim school in Arabic, and in a French school, in the 1990s. Her father justified this by saying that knowledge was different from religion. For him, knowledge could be found in every culture and had to be sought everywhere.<ref>Welet Halatine, Fatimata: ''L’abandon des privilèges. Parcours d’une femme touarègue dans la modernité'', Ethnies 20–21, 1998, p. 30</ref><ref>Hélène Claudot-Hawad, ''A Nomadic Fight against Immobility: the Tuareg in the Modern State'', halshs-00293587, 2023, pp. 5–7 [https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00293587/document] (retrieved on June 15, 2025)</ref> 

===Language===
{{Main|Tuareg languages}}
The Tuareg natively speak the [[Tuareg languages]]. A dialect cluster, it belongs to the [[Berber languages|Berber]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic family]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ttq|title=Tamajaq, Tawallammat|date=2019|editor-last=Ebenhard|editor-first=David|editor2-last=Simons|editor2-first=Gary|website=Ethnoloque|access-date=12 June 2019|editor3-last=Fennig|editor3-first=Charles}}</ref> Tuareg is known as ''[[Tamasheq language|Tamasheq]]'' by western Tuareg in Mali, as ''[[Tamahaq language|Tamahaq]]'' among Algerian and Libyan Tuareg, and as ''[[Air Tamajeq language|Tamajeq]]'' in the Azawagh and Aïr regions of Niger.
 
French missionary [[Charles de Foucauld]] compiled perhaps the earliest dictionary of the Tuareg language.<ref>{{cite book|last=Naylor|first=Phillip C.|title=Historical Dictionary of Algeria|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0810879195|page=481|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFbCQAAQBAJ|access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref>
The Tuaregs compose a great deal of poetry, often elegiac, epigrammatic, and amatory. Charles de Foucauld, and other ethnographers have preserved thousands of these poems, many of which Foucauld translated into French.

===Arts===
[[File:Les_21_croix_du_Niger.jpg|thumb|The [[Agadez Cross|Cross of Agadez]] in 21 modern variations, [[Niger]], 2019]]
As in other rural Berber traditions, jewelry made of silver, coloured glass or iron is a special artform of the Tuareg people.<ref name=":9">{{harvnb|Loughran|2006|pp=167–212}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dieterlen |first1=Germaine |last2=Ligers |first2=Ziedonis |date=1972 |title=Contribution à l'étude des bijoux touareg |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/jafr_0037-9166_1972_num_42_1_1697 |journal=Journal des Africanistes |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=29–53 |doi=10.3406/jafr.1972.1697}}</ref> While in [[Jewellery of the Berber cultures|other Berber cultures]] in the Maghreb jewelry is mainly worn by women, Tuareg men also wear necklaces, amulets and rings. 

Various pieces Indicate a families economic standing and prestige through both quality and quantity. Often passed through generations (typically from mother to daughter) and given as wedding gifts from the groom. A piece worn by both men and women called Grigri is usually either a leather pouch or amulet. And because this is a Muslim culture, the Grigri is rooted in religious tradition and are only made by holy men. There are gender specific pieces of jewelry as well; only men are allowed to wear arm bands (Eweki) and certain pieces of Tcherow. Tcherow were silver ornaments made by the Enaden that served the same protective purpose as the Grigri made by Islamic holy men.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mickelsen |first=Nancy R. |date=1976 |title=Tuareg Jewelry |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3335011 |journal=African Arts |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=16–80 |doi=10.2307/3335011 |issn=0001-9933|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

These traditional handicrafts are made by the ''inadan wan-tizol'' (makers of weapons and jewelry). Among their products are [[tanaghilt]] or [[zakkat]] (the '[[Agadez Cross]]' or 'Croix d'Agadez'); the Tuareg sword ([[takoba]]), gold and silver necklaces called 'takaza' as well as earrings called 'tizabaten'. Pilgrimage boxes with intricate iron and brass decorations are used to carry items. [[Tahatint]] are made of goat skin.<ref>Ludwig G. A. Zöhrer, ''Die Tuareg der Sahara'', 1956, p.182</ref><ref>Société d'anthropologie de Paris, ''Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris'', 1902, p.633</ref> Other such artifacts include metalwork for saddle decoration, called ''trik''.

Most forms of the Agadez Cross are worn as [[pendant]]s with varied shapes that either resemble a cross or have the shape of a plate or shield. Historically, the oldest known specimens were made of stone or copper, but subsequently Tuareg blacksmiths also used iron and silver, in the [[lost-wax casting]] technique. According to the article "''The cross of Agadez''" by Seligman and Loughran (2006), this piece has become a national and African symbol for Tuareg culture and political rights.<ref>Seligman and Loughran (2006), The cross of Agadez as a national and political symbol, pp. 258- 261</ref> Today, these pieces of jewellery are often made for tourists or as items of [[Fashion#Anthropological perspective|ethnic-style fashion]] for customers in other countries, with certain modern changes.<ref>Seligman and Loughran (2006), The cross of Agadez, pp. 251–265</ref>

Not only was lost wax casting used to create these pieces, the Enaden also pounded the metals into their desired shapes and would imprint different designs or even verses from the Quran. They were used as a method of spiritual and physical protection.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Albacete |first=M. J. |date=1978 |title=Tuareg Art and Artisans |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3335357 |journal=African Arts |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=82–84 |doi=10.2307/3335357 |issn=0001-9933|url-access=subscription }}</ref> For example, certain materials impacted what they were used for. Silver was understood to bring happiness, various rare agates are thought to have healing properties, and even the shape of a triangle is a protective form from evil. Shells are also included in aiding in fertility when worn in Khomessa amulets. This goes the other way too, gold is thought to bring misfortune when worn. which is why the primary material is the silver that comes form Austrian coins, 5 franc pieces, and various silver scraps.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loughran |first=Kristyne |date=2003 |title=Jewelry, Fashion, and Identity: The Tuareg Example |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3337992 |journal=African Arts |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=52–93 |issn=0001-9933}}</ref>

===Astronomy===
The clear desert skies allowed the Tuareg to be keen observers. Tuareg celestial objects include:
* Azzag Willi ([[Venus]]), which indicates the time for milking the goats
* Shet Ahad ([[Pleiades]]), the seven sisters of the night
* Amanar ([[Orion (constellation)|Orion]]), the warrior of the desert
* Talemt ([[Ursa Major]]), the she-camel wakes up
* Awara ([[Ursa Minor]]), the baby camel goes to sleep
<ref>Hans Ritter, ''Wörterbuch zur Sprache und Kultur der Twareg II'', Otto Harrassowitz GmbH & Co. KG. Wiesbaden, DE, 2009 [https://books.google.com/books?id=pGClDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA418]</ref>
===Nomadic architecture===

While living quarters are progressively changing to adapt to a more sedentary lifestyle, Tuareg groups are well known for their nomadic architecture ([[tent]]s). There are several documented styles, some covered with animal skin, some with mats. The style tends to vary by location or subgroup.<ref>Prussin, Labelle "African Nomadic Architecture" 1995.</ref> The tent is traditionally constructed for the first time during the marriage ceremony and is considered an extension of the union, to the extent that the phrase "making a tent" is a metaphor for becoming married.<ref name="academia.edu">{{cite web |type=paper |last=Scelta |first=Gabe |year=2011 |title=Much to Learn About Living: Tuareg Architecture and Reflections of Knowledge |url=https://www.academia.edu/7963101}}</ref> 

Because the tent is considered to be under the ownership of a married woman, sedentary dwellings generally belong to men, reflecting a patriarchal shift in power dynamics. Current documentation suggests a negotiation of common practice in which a woman's tent is set up in the courtyard of her husband's house.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rasmussen |first=Susan |year=1996 |title=The Tent as Cultural Symbol and Field Site: Social and Symbolic Space, "Topos", and Authority in a Tuareg Community |journal=Anthropological Quarterly |volume=69 |issue= 1|pages=14–26 |doi=10.2307/3317136 |jstor=3317136}}</ref> It has been suggested that the traditional tent construction and arrangement of living space within it represent a microcosm of the greater world as an aide in the organization of lived experiences<ref name="academia.edu"/> so much so that movement away from the tent can cause changes in character for both men and women as its stabilizing force becomes faint.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rasmussen |first=Susan J. |year=1998 |title=Within the Tent and at the Crossroads: Travel and Gender Identity among the Tuareg of Niger |journal=Ethos |volume=26 |issue=2 |page=164 |doi=10.1525/eth.1998.26.2.153 }}</ref>

An old legend says the Tuareg once lived in grottoes, ''akazam'', and they lived in foliage beds on the top [[acacia]] trees, ''tasagesaget''. Other kinds of traditional housing include:{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} ''ahaket'' (Tuareg goatskin red tent), ''tafala'' (a shade made of millet sticks), ''akarban'' also called ''takabart'' (temporary hut for winter), ''ategham'' (summer hut), ''taghazamt'' ([[adobe]] house for long stay), and ''ahaket'' (a dome-shaped house made of mats for the dry season and square shaped roof with holes to prevent hot air).{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

===Traditional weapons===
[[File:Tuarick in a Shirt of Leather, Tuarick of Aghades.jpg|thumb|right|Armed Tuareg men depicted in a French book of 1821. Both men carry spears and the ''telek'' dagger attached to the left forearm, the man on the right (a noble) is also armed with the ''takouba'' sword.]]
* ''[[takoba]]'': 1-meter-long straight sword
* ''sheru'': long dagger
* ''telek'': short dagger kept in a sheath attached to the left forearm
* ''allagh'': 2-meter-long lance
* ''tagheda'': small and sharp [[assegai]]
* ''taganze'': leather-covered wooden bow
* ''amur'': wooden arrow
* ''taburek'': wooden stick
* ''alakkud'' or ''abartak'': [[riding crop]]
* ''agher'': 1.5-meter-tall shield

In 2007, Stanford's [[Cantor Arts Center]] opened an exhibition, "Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World", the first such exhibit in the United States. It was curated by Tom Seligman, director of the center. He had first spent time with the Tuareg in 1971 when he traveled through the Sahara after serving in the [[Peace Corps]]. The exhibition included crafted and adorned functional objects such as camel saddles, tents, bags, swords, amulets, cushions, dresses, earrings, spoons and drums.<ref>[http://museum.stanford.edu/news_room/Tuareg.html "First Exhibition of Tuareg Art and Culture in America Appears at Stanford Before Traveling to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629051459/http://museum.stanford.edu/news_room/Tuareg.html |date=29 June 2007 }}, Cantor Arts Center</ref> The exhibition also was shown at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] Fowler Museum in Angeles and the [[Smithsonian]]'s [[National Museum of African Art]] in Washington, D.C.

Throughout history, the Tuareg were renowned and respected warriors. Their equipment consisted of a ''takoba'' (sword), ''allagh'' (lance), and ''aghar'' (shield) made of antelope hide. Their decline as a military power came with the introduction of firearms. The French general Hanoteau wrote in 1859: {{quote|Firearms are not yet widely used among the Imouchar. They could, however, obtain them with ease; but, until now, they have not adopted them, either out of attachment to ancient customs or out of a feeling of contempt for weapons with which, they say, a woman can kill the bravest and most vigorous man.}}<ref>Adolphe Hanoteau: ''Essai de Grammaire de la langue Tamachek'', Librairie Adolphe Jourdan, Algier, 1860, p. XXV, [[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1047497.image]], PDF, 13&nbsp;MB, retrieved on May 30, 2025</ref>

===Music===
{{further|Berber music}}
Traditional Tuareg music has two major components: the monochord violin ''[[anzad]]'' played often during night parties and a small ''[[tanbur|tambour]]'' covered with goatskin called ''[[tende (drum)|tende]]'', performed during camel and horse races, and other festivities. Traditional songs called ''[[Asak (Tuareg)|Asak]]'' and ''[[Tisiway]]'' (poems) are sung by women and men during feasts and social occasions. Another popular Tuareg musical genre is ''[[Takamba]]'', characterized by its Afro percussions.

'''Vocal music'''
* ''tisiway'': poems
* ''tasikisikit'': songs performed by women, accompanied by tende (drum); the men, on camel-back, circle the women as they sing.
* ''asak'': songs accompanied by anzad monocord violin.
* ''tahengemmit'': slow songs sung by elder men
[[File:Tinariwen.jpg|thumb|[[Tinariwen]] (Tuareg band) from [[Mali]], taken at the [[Nice Jazz Festival]] in France]]

'''Children and youth music'''
[[File:Othmane Bali-Algiers.jpg|thumb|Tuareg singer [[Othmane Bali]] from [[Djanet|Djanet, Algeria]]]]
* ''Bellulla'': songs made by children playing with the lips
* ''Fadangama'': small monocord instrument for children
* ''Odili'' flute: made from trunk of sorghum
* ''Gidga'' small: wooden instrument with irons sticks to make strident sounds

'''Dance'''
* ''Tagest'': dance made while seated, moving the head, the hands and the shoulders
* ''Ewegh'': strong dance performed by men, in couples and groups
* ''Agabas'': dance for modern ishumar guitars: women and men in groups

In the 1980s rebel fighters founded [[Tinariwen]], a Tuareg band that fuses electric guitars and indigenous musical styles. Especially in areas that were cut off during the [[Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995)|Tuareg rebellion]] (e.g., Adrar des Iforas), they were practically the only music available, which helped them to regional success. They released their first CD in 2000, and toured in Europe and the United States in 2004. Tuareg guitar groups that followed in their path include Group Inerane and [[Group Bombino]]. The Niger-based band ''[[Etran Finatawa]]'' combines Tuareg and ''[[Wodaabe]]'' members, playing a combination of traditional instruments and electric guitars.

====Music genres, groups and artists====
'''Traditional music'''
* Majila Ag Khamed Ahmad: asak singer, from Aduk, Niger
* Almuntaha: anzad player, from Aduk
* Ajju: anzad player, from Agadez, Niger
* Islaman: asak singer, from Abalagh, Niger
* Tambatan: asak singer, from Tchin-Tabaraden, Niger
* Alghadawiat: anzad player, from Akoubounou, Niger
* Taghdu: anzad player, from Aduk

'''Ishumar music''', also known as '''Teshumara''' or '''al guitarra''' music style
* [[Abdallah Oumbadougou]], the "godfather" of the [[Desert blues#Ishumar|''ishumar'']] genre<ref name=deycard>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxtLkZLTrQQC&pg=PA58 |title=Understanding Collective Political Violence |editor1-first=Yvan |editor1-last=Guichaoua |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2011 |isbn=9780230285460 |chapter=Political Cultures and Tuareg mobilizations: Rebels of Niger, from Kaocen to the Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice |first=Frédéric |last=Deycard |pages=46–64}}</ref>
* In Tayaden, singer and guitar player, Adagh
* Abareybon, singer and guitar player in [[Tinariwen]], Adagh
* Kiddu Ag Hossad, singer and guitar player, Adagh
* Baly Othmani singer, luth player, Djanet, Azjar
* Abdalla Ag Umbadugu, singer, Takrist N'Akal group, Ayr
* Hasso Ag Akotey, singer, Ayr

'''[[World Music]]''' 
* [[Tinariwen]], exemplar of the [[tishoumaren]] genre. [[Led Zeppelin]]'s [[Robert Plant]], a major supporter of Tinariwen and the Festival au Désert said of Tinariwen, "When I first heard them, I felt, this was the music I'd been looking for all my life."<ref>"Robert Plant Finds Roots in the Sahara," NPR, December 8, 2003, https://www.npr.org/2003/12/08/1532394/robert-plant-finds-blues-roots-in-the-sahara</ref><ref>"Robert Plant: Desert storm," Independent, August 29, 2003</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Empire |first=Kitty |date=2005-04-24 |title=Led Zeppelin meet the Tuaregs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/apr/24/popandrock.ledzeppelin |access-date=2024-09-13 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Gentile |first=John |date=2013-11-11 |title=Robert Plant Takes a Trip to Mali |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/robert-plant-documents-his-time-in-mali-242524/ |access-date=2024-09-13 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}
</ref>

* [[Bombino (musician)|Bombino]], guitarist
* [[Kel Assouf]]
* [[Imarhan]]
* [[Les Filles de Illighadad]], Niger
* [[Mdou Moctar]], guitarist

====Music and culture festivals====
[[File:Sebiba Touareg Exhibition, Djanet (Algérie).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|''Sebiba''{{refn|group=nb|The 3,000-year-old ''Sebiba'' festival is celebrated each year in [[Djanet]] (Algeria) where inhabitants of [[Tassili n'Ajjer]] and Tuaregs from neighbouring countries meet to simulate through songs and dance the fights that once separated them.<ref name="Abada 2016">{{cite web|last=Abada|first=Latifa|title=La fête Touareg "Sebiba" célébrée en octobre à Djanet|website=Al Huffington Post|date=10 September 2016|url=http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2016/09/10/-fete-touaregue-sebiba_n_11947408.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001125236/http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2016/09/10/-fete-touaregue-sebiba_n_11947408.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=1 October 2016|language=fr}}</ref>}} Tuareg festival in [[Djanet]], Algeria. The celebrants brandish takouba swords.]]
[[File:Touaregs at the Festival au Desert near Timbuktu, Mali 2012.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Tuaregs at the January 2012 [[Festival au Désert]] in [[Timbuktu]], just before the [[National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad|MNLA]] launched the [[Tuareg rebellion (2012)|Azawadi rebellion]] later in the same month]]
The [[Festival in the Desert]] in Mali's Timbuktu provides one opportunity to see Tuareg culture and dance and hear their music. Other festivals include:
* ''[[Cure Salee]]'' Festival in the oasis of [[In-Gall]], Niger
* Sabeiba Festival in Ganat ([[Djanet]]), Algeria
* Shiriken Festival in Akabinu ([[Akoubounou]]), Niger
* Takubelt Tuareg Festival in Mali
* [[Ghat, Libya|Ghat]] Festival in Aghat (Ghat), Libya
* [[Le Festival au Désert]] in Mali
* [[Ghadames]] Tuareg Festival in Libya

===Films===
* ''A Love Apart'', was released in 2004 by [[Bettina Haasen]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A Love Apart – Bettina Haasen|url=https://gebrueder-beetz.de/en/productions/a-love-apart|access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref> 
* ''Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai'', was released in 2014 and stars the musician [[Mdou Moctar]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mdou Moctar – Akounak Teggdalit Taha Tazoughai TEASER|website = [[YouTube]]| date=26 December 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9su1UxtaI7I| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211102/9su1UxtaI7I| archive-date=2021-11-02 | url-status=live|access-date=27 December 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mdou Moctar protagoniza un nuevo filme documental: "Rain the Color of Red with a Little Blue in It"|url=http://www.conceptoradio.net/2013/12/27/mdou-moctar-protagoniza-un-nuevo-filme-documental-rain-color-red-little-blue/|work=conceptaradio|access-date=30 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sahel Sounds: "Algunos artistas africanos nunca han visto un vinilo"|url=http://www.conceptoradio.net/2013/11/13/sahel-sounds-algunos-artistas-africanos-nunca-han-visto-un-vinilo/|work=conceptoradio|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825090147/http://www.conceptoradio.net/2013/11/13/sahel-sounds-algunos-artistas-africanos-nunca-han-visto-un-vinilo/|access-date=30 December 2013|archive-date=25 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mdou Moctar – Akonak (TEASER TRAILER 2)|website = [[YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxEK2bjiwIU| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140624184432/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxEK2bjiwIU| archive-date=2014-06-24 | url-status=dead|access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref>
* [[Zerzura (film)|''Zerzura'']] is a Tamashek-language film released in 2017 by [[Sahel Sounds]] based on the Northern African [[fable]] of [[Zerzura]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Kirkley |first=Christopher |title=Zerzura |date=2017-07-19 |type=Western |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7626082/ |access-date=2024-09-13 |others=Ibrahim Affi, Zara Alhassane, Habiba Almoustapha |publisher=Imouhar Studio, Sahel Sounds}}</ref>

===Games===
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2020}}
Tuareg traditional games and plays include:
* ''Tiddas'', played with small stones and sticks.
* ''Kelmutan'': consists of singing and touching each person's leg, where the ends, that person is out: the last person loses the game.
* ''Temse'': comic game try to make the other team laugh and you win.
* ''Izagag'', played with small stones or dried fruits.
* ''Iswa'', played by picking up stones while throwing another stone.
* ''Melghas'', children hide themselves and another tries to find and touch them before they reach the well and drink.
* ''Tabillant'', traditional Tuareg wrestling
* ''Alamom'', wrestling while running
* ''Solagh'', another type of wrestling
* ''Tammazaga'' or ''Tammalagha'', race on camel back
* ''Takket'', singing and playing all night.
* ''Sellenduq'' one person to be a jackal and try to touch the others who escape running (tag).
* ''Takadant'', children try to imagine what the others are thinking.
* ''Tabakoni'': clown with a goatskin mask to amuse children.
* ''Abarad Iqquran'': small dressed wooden puppet that tells stories and makes people laugh.
* ''Maja Gel Gel'': one person tries to touch all people standing, to avoid this sit down.
* ''Bellus'': everyone runs not to be touched by the one who plays (tag).
* ''Tamammalt'': pass a burning stick, when it is blown off in one's hands tells who is the lover.
* ''Ideblan'': game with girls, prepare food and go search for water and milk and fruits.
* ''Seqqetu'': play with girls to learn how to build tents, look after babies made of clay.
* ''Mifa Mifa'': beauty contest, girls and boys best dressed.
* ''Taghmart'': children pass from house to house singing to get presents: dates, sugar, etc.
* ''Melan Melan'': try to find a riddle
* ''Tawaya'': play with the round fruit calotropis or a piece of cloth.
* ''Abanaban'': try to find people while eyes are shut (''blind man's bluff'').
* ''Shishagheren'', writing the name of one's lover to see if this person brings good luck.
* ''Taqqanen'', telling ''devinettes'' and enigmas.
* ''Maru Maru'', young people mime how the tribe works.

===Economy===
[[File:Touareg-craftmanship.jpg|thumb|right| Tuareg selling crafts to tourists in the [[Ahaggar Mountains|Hoggar]] (Algeria)]]

Tuareg are distinguished in their native language as the ''Imouhar'', meaning the free people;{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} the overlap of meaning has increased local cultural nationalism.
Many Tuareg today are either settled agriculturalists or nomadic cattle breeders, while others are [[blacksmith]]s or [[camel train|caravan]] leaders. The Tuareg are a [[pastoral]] people, having an economy based on livestock breeding, trading, and agriculture.<ref name="smithsonian1">{{cite web|url=http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/tuareg/who.html|title=Who are the Tuareg?|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=21 October 2013}}</ref>

====Caravan trade====

Since prehistoric times, Tuareg peoples have been organising caravans for trading across the Sahara desert. The caravan in Niger from around Agadez to Fachi and Bilma is called ''Tarakaft'' or ''Taghlamt'' in Tamashek, and that in Mali from Timbuktu to Taoudenni, ''Azalay''.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} These caravans used first oxen, horses and later camels as a means of transportation.

Salt mines or ''salines'' in the desert.
* Tin Garaban near Ghat in [[Azjar]], Libya
* Amadghor in Ahaggar, Algeria
* [[Taoudenni]] in far northern Mali
* Tagidda N Tesemt in Azawagh, Niger
* [[Fachi]] in Ténéré desert, Niger
* [[Bilma]] in Kawar, eastern Niger
A contemporary variant is occurring in northern Niger, in a traditionally Tuareg territory that comprises most of the uranium-rich land of the country. The central government in [[Niamey]] has shown itself unwilling to cede control of the highly profitable mining to indigenous clans.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} The Tuareg are determined not to relinquish the prospect of substantial economic benefit. The French government has independently tried to defend a French firm, Areva, established in Niger for fifty years and now mining the massive uranium deposit.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hibbs|first=Mark|title=Uranium in Saharan Sands|url=https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2013/01/uranium-in-saharan-sands?lang=en|access-date=2021-01-24|website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace|language=en}}</ref>

Additional complaints against Areva are that it is: "...plundering...the natural resources and [draining] the fossil deposits. It is undoubtedly an ecological catastrophe".<ref>Pádraig Carmody. The New Scramble for Africa. Polity. (2011) {{ISBN|9780745647852}}</ref> These mines yield uranium ores, which are then processed to produce ''[[yellowcake]]'', crucial to the nuclear power industry, as well as aspirational nuclear powers. In 2007, some Tuareg people in Niger allied themselves with the [[Niger Movement for Justice]] (MNJ), a rebel group operating in the north of the country. 

In 2004–2007, U.S. Special Forces teams trained Tuareg units of the [[Nigerien Army]] in the Sahel region as part of the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership. Some of these trainees are reported to have fought in [[Second Tuareg Rebellion|the 2007 rebellion]] within the MNJ. The goal of these Tuareg appears to be economic and political control of ancestral lands, rather than operating from religious and political ideologies.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

Despite the Sahara's erratic and unpredictable rainfall patterns, the Tuareg have managed to survive in the hostile desert environment for centuries. Over recent years however, depletion of water by the uranium exploitation process combined with the effects of climate change are threatening their ability to subsist. Uranium mining has diminished and degraded Tuareg grazing lands. The mining industry produces radioactive waste that can contaminate crucial sources of ground water resulting in cancer, stillbirths, and genetic defects, and uses up huge quantities of water in a region where water is already scarce. 

This is exacerbated by the increased rate of desertification thought to be the result of global warming. Lack of water forces the Tuareg to compete with southern farming communities for scarce resources and this has led to tensions and clashes between these communities. The precise levels of environmental and social impact of the mining industry have proved difficult to monitor due to governmental obstruction.

==Genetics==
{{Main|Genetic history of North Africa}}

===Y-chromosome DNA===
[[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|Y-DNA haplogroups]], passed on exclusively through the paternal line, were found at the following frequencies in Tuaregs:
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size: 100%;"
! Population
! Nb
! A/B
! E1b1a
! E-M35
! E-M78
! E-M81
! E-M123
! F
! K-M9
! G
! I
! J1
! J2
! R1a
! R1b
! Other
! Study
|-
| Tuareg ([[Libya]])||47||0||43%||0||0||49%||0||0||0||0||0||3||0||0||6%||2%||Ottoni et al. (2011)<ref name="Ottoni2011">{{cite journal |last1=Ottoni |first1=C |last2=Larmuseau |first2=MH |last3=Vanderheyden |first3=N |last4=Martínez-Labarga |first4=C |last5=Primativo |first5=G |last6=Biondi |first6=G |last7=Decorte |first7=R |last8=Rickards |first8=O |date=May 2011 |title=Deep into the roots of the Libyan Tuareg: a genetic survey of their paternal heritage |journal=Am J Phys Anthropol |volume=145 |issue=1 |pages=118–24 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21473 |pmid=21312181 }}</ref>
|-
| Al Awaynat Tuareg (Libya)||47||0||50%||0||0||39%||0||0||0||3||0||0||0||0||8%||3%||Ottoni et al. (2011)<ref name="Ottoni2011"/>
|-
| Tahala Tuareg (Libya)||47||0||11%||0||0||89%||0||0||0||0||0||3||0||0||0||0||Ottoni et al. (2011)<ref name="Ottoni2011"/>
|-
| Tuareg ([[Mali]])||11||0||9.1%||0||9.1%||81.8%||0||0||0||0||0||3||0||0||0||0||Pereira et al. (2011)<ref name="Pereira2011">{{cite journal |last=Pereira |display-authors=etal |year=2010 |title=Y chromosomes and mtDNA of Tuareg nomads from the African Sahel |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=18 |issue= 8|pages=915–923 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2010.21 |pmid=20234393 |pmc=2987384}}</ref>
|-
| Tuareg ([[Burkina Faso]])||18||0||16.7%||0||0||77.8%||0||0||5.6%||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||Pereira et al. (2011)
|-
| Tuareg ([[Niger]])||18||5.6%||44.4%||0||5.6%||11.1%||0||0||0||0||2||0||0||0||33.3%||0||Pereira et al. (2011)
|-
|}

[[Haplogroup E-M215|E1b1b]] is the most common paternal haplogroup among the Tuareg. Most belong to its [[Haplogroup E-Z827|E1b1b1b]] (E-M81) subclade, which is colloquially referred to as the ''Berber marker'' due to its prevalence among [[Mozabite people|Mozabite]], [[Middle Atlas]], [[Kabyle people|Kabyle]] and other Berber groups. It reaches frequencies of up to 100 percent in some parts of the [[Maghreb]], and is dominated by its sub-clade E-M183. M81 is thought to have originated in North Africa up to 14,000 years ago, but a single 2,200-year-old branch M183-PF2546 dominates Northern and Eastern Berbers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=E-M81 YTree |url=https://www.yfull.com/tree/E-M81/ |access-date=2016-07-13 |website=yfull.com}}</ref> Its parent haplogroup E1b1b is associated with Afro-Asiatic-speaking populations, and is thought to have arisen in the Horn of Africa.<ref name="Cruciani2004">{{Cite journal |last11=Lavinha |first11=João |last1=Cruciani |first1=Fulvio |last2=Fratta |first2=Roberta La |last3=Santolamazza |first3=Piero |last4=Sellitto |first4=Daniele |last5=Pascone |first5=Roberto |last6=Moral |first6=Pedro |last7=Watson |first7=Elizabeth |last8=Guida |first8=Valentina |last9=Colomb |first9=Eliane Beraud |last10=Boriana Zaharova |last12=Vona |first12=Giuseppe |last13=Aman |first13=Rashid |last14=Calì |first14=Francesco |last15=Akar |first15=Nejat |last16=Richards |first16=Martin |last17=Torroni |first17=Antonio |last18=Novelletto |first18=Andrea |last19=Scozzari |first19=Rosaria |title=Phylogeographic analysis of haplogroup E3b (E-M215) y chromosomes reveals multiple migratory events within and out of Africa |journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. |volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=1014–22 |date=May 2004 |pmid=15042509 |pmc=1181964 |doi=10.1086/386294 |issn=0002-9297 }}</ref><ref name="Arredi">{{cite journal|vauthors=Arredi B, Poloni ES, Paracchini S, Zerjal T, Fathallah DM, Makrelouf M, Pascali VL, Novelletto A, Tyler-Smith C | title=A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in North Africa| journal=Am J Hum Genet | year=2004 | pages=338–345 | volume=75 | issue=2| pmid=15202071| doi=10.1086/423147| pmc=1216069}}</ref>

Besides E1b1b, Pereira et al. (2011) and Ottoni et al. (2011) observed that certain Tuareg inhabiting Niger and Libya carry the [[Haplogroup E-M2|E1b1a1-M2]] haplogroup (see table above). This clade is today primarily found among [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]]-speaking populations, which suggests that some Tuareg tribes in parts of Libya and Niger may have assimilated many persons of West African origin into their communities.<ref name="Ottoni2011"/><ref name="Pereira2011"/> To wit, around 50% of individuals among the Al Awaynat Tuareg in Libya are E1b1a carriers compared to only 11% of the adjacent Tahala Tuareg. 89% of the Tahala belong instead to the E1b1b-M81 Berber founding lineage.<ref name="Ottoni2011"/>

===mtDNA===
According to mtDNA analysis by Ottoni et al. (2010) in a study of 47 individuals, the Tuareg inhabiting the [[Fezzan]] region in Libya predominantly carry the [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)|H1]] haplogroup (61%). This is the highest global frequency found so far of the maternal clade. The haplogroup peaks among Berber populations. The remaining Libyan Tuareg mainly belong to two other West Eurasian mtDNA lineages, [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|M1]] and [[Haplogroup V (mtDNA)|V]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ottoni|year=2010|title=Mitochondria Haplogroup H1 in North Africa: An Early Holocene Arrival from Iberia|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=5|issue=10|page=e13378|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0013378|pmid=20975840|pmc=2958834|bibcode=2010PLoSO...513378O|citeseerx=10.1.1.350.6514|doi-access=free}}</ref> M1 is today most common among other Afro-Asiatic speakers inhabiting East Africa, and is believed to have arrived on the continent along with the [[Haplogroup U|U6]] haplogroup from the [[Near East]] around 40,000 years ago.<ref name="Pereira2010">{{cite journal |last1=Pereira |first=Luísa |last2=Černý |first2=Viktor |last3=Cerezo |first3=María |last4=Silva |first4=Nuno M |last5=Hájek |first5=Martin |last6=Vašíková |first6=Alžběta |last7=Kujanová |first7=Martina |last8=Brdička |first8=Radim |last9=Salas |first9=Antonio |date=17 March 2010 |title=Linking the sub-Saharan and West Eurasian gene pools: maternal and paternal heritage of the Tuareg nomads from the African Sahel |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=18 |issue=8 |pages=915–923 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2010.21 |pmc=2987384 |pmid=20234393}}</ref> In 2009, based on 129 individuals, Libyan Tuareg were shown to have a maternal genetic pool with a "European" component similar to other Berbers, as well as a south Saharan contribution linked to Eastern Africa and Near Eastern populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ottoni |first1=Claudio |last2=Martínez-Labarga |first2=Cristina |last3=Loogväli |first3=Eva-Liis |last4=Pennarun |first4=Erwan |last5=Achilli |first5=Alessandro |last6=De Angelis |first6=Flavio |last7=Trucchi |first7=Emiliano |last8=Contini |first8=Irene |last9=Biondi |first9=Gianfranco |last10=Rickards |first10=Olga |date=2009-05-20 |title=First genetic insight into Libyan Tuaregs: a maternal perspective |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19476452/ |journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=73 |issue=Pt 4 |pages=438–448 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00526.x |issn=1469-1809 |pmid=19476452|s2cid=31919422 }}</ref>

Pereira et al. (2010) in a study of 90 unrelated individuals observed greater matrilineal heterogeneity among the Tuareg inhabiting more southerly areas in the Sahel. The Tuareg in the Gossi environs in Mali largely bear the H1 haplogroup (52%), with the M1 lineage (19%), and various Sub-Saharan [[Haplogroup L2|L2]] subclades (19%) next most common. Similarly, most of the Tuareg inhabiting Gorom-Gorom in Burkina Faso carry the H1 haplogroup (24%), followed by various L2 subclades (24%), the V lineage (21%), and haplogroup M1 (18%).<ref name="Pereira2010"/>

The Tuareg in the vicinity of Tanout in Maradi Region and westward to villages of Loube and Djibale in Tahoua Region in Niger are different from the other Tuareg populations in that a majority carry Sub-Saharan mtDNA lineages. In fact, the name for these mixed Tuareg-Haussa people is "Djibalawaa" named after the village of Djibale in Bouza Department, Tahoua Region of Niger. This points to significant assimilation of local West African females into this community. The most common maternal haplogroups found among the Tanout Tuareg are various L2 subclades (39%), followed by [[Haplogroup L3|L3]] (26%), various [[Haplogroup L1|L1]] sublineages (13%), V (10%), H1 (3%), M1 (3%), [[Haplogroup U|U3a]] (3%), and [[Haplogroup L0|L0a1a]] (3%).<ref name="Pereira2010"/>

=== Autosomal DNA ===
Based on classical genetic markers, according to Cavalli-Sforza LL, Menozzi P, Piazza A. (1994), the Tuareg have genetic affinities with the [[Beja people]], a minority ethnic group inhabiting parts of [[Sudan]], [[Egypt]], and [[Eritrea]]. The inferred ethnogenesis of the Tuareg people happened within a time period of 9,000 to 3,000 years ago, and most likely took place somewhere in [[North Africa|Northern Africa]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Luisa |display-authors=etal |year=2010 |title=Linking the sub-Saharan and West Eurasian gene pools: maternal and paternal heritage of the Tuareg nomads from the African Sahel |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=18 |issue=8 |pages=915–923 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2010.21 |pmc=2987384 |pmid=20234393}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cavalli-Sforza |first1=Luigi Luca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrwNcwKaUKoC |title=The History and Geography of Human Genes |last2=Cavalli-Sforza |first2=Luca |last3=Menozzi |first3=Paolo |last4=Piazza |first4=Alberto |date=1994 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-08750-4 |language=en}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2025}}

A 2017 study by Arauna et al. which analyzed existing genetic data obtained from Northern African populations, such as Berbers, described them as a mosaic of local Northern African (Taforalt), Middle Eastern, European (Early European Farmers), and Sub-Saharan African-related ancestries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arauna |first1=Lara R |last2=Comas |first2=David |date=2017-09-15 |title=Genetic Heterogeneity between Berbers and Arabs |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0027485 |journal=eLS |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0027485|isbn=9780470016176 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography ===
{{Refbegin}}
* Heath Jeffrey 2005: ''A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)''. New York: Mouton de Gruyer. Mouton Grammar Library, 35. {{ISBN|3-11-018484-2}}
* Hourst, Lieutenant (1898) (translated from the French by Mrs. Arthur Bell) ''French Enterprise in Africa: The Exploration of the Niger.'' Chapman Hall, London.
* {{cite book |last=Loughran |first=Kristyne |title=Art of being Tuareg: Sahara nomads in a modern world |publisher=Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-9748729-4-0 |editor-last=Seligman |editor-first=Thomas K. |publication-place=Los Angeles |pages=167–212 |chapter=Tuareg women and their jewelry |oclc=61859773 |editor-last2=Loughran |editor-first2=Kristyne}}
* {{cite book|last=Karl G. Prasse|title=The Tuaregs: The Blue People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jeh3gxrpp1kC|year= 1995|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press|isbn=978-87-7289-313-6}}
* {{cite book|last1= [[Karl Prasse]]|last2= Ghoubeid Alojaly|last3= Ghabdouane Mohamed|title= ''Dictionnaire touareg-français'' |publisher=Copenhague, Museum Tusculanum| year= 2003 |isbn= 978-87-7289-844-5}}
* Rando et al. (1998) "Mitochondrial DNA analysis of northwest African populations reveals genetic exchanges with European, near-eastern, and sub-Saharan populations". ''Annals of Human Genetics'' 62(6): 531–50; Watson et al. (1996) mtDNA sequence diversity in Africa. ''American Journal of Human Genetics'' 59(2): 437–44; Salas et al. (2002) "The Making of the African mtDNA Landscape". ''American Journal of Human Genetics'' 71: 1082–1111. These are good sources for information on the genetic heritage of the Tuareg and their relatedness to other populations.
*{{cite journal |author-last=Rasmussen |author-first=Susan |date=September 2021 |title=Re-Thinking a Matrilineal Myth of Healing: Tuareg Medicine Women, Islam, and the Market in Niger |editor-last=Jain |editor-first=Andrea R. |journal=[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[American Academy of Religion]] |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=909–930 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfab076 |eissn=1477-4585 |jstor=00027189 |lccn=sc76000837}}
* [[Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell|Francis James Rennell Rodd]], ''People of the veil. Being an account of the habits, organisation and history of the wandering Tuareg tribes which inhabit the mountains of Aïr or Asben in the Central Sahara'', London, MacMillan & Co., 1926 (repr. Oosterhout, N.B., Anthropological Publications, 1966)
*{{citation | last=Saad | first=Elias N. | year=1983 | title=Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables 1400–1900 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=0-521-24603-2}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* Edmond Bernus, "Les Touareg", pp.&nbsp;162–171 in ''Vallées du Niger'', Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1993.
* Andre Bourgeot, ''Les Sociétés Touarègues, Nomadisme, Identité, Résistances'', Paris: Karthala, 1995.
* Hélène Claudot-Hawad, ed., "[https://www.persee.fr/issue/remmm_0997-1327_1990_num_57_1 Touaregs, exil et résistance]". ''Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée'', No. 57, Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 1990.
* Claudot-Hawad, ''Touaregs, Portrait en Fragments'', Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 1993.
* Hélène Claudot-Hawad and [[Hawad]], "Touaregs: Voix Solitaires sous l'Horizon Confisque", ''Ethnies-Documents'' No. 20–21, Hiver, 1996.
* [[Mano Dayak]], ''Touareg: La Tragedie'', Paris: Éditions Lattes, 1992.
* Sylvie Ramir, ''Les Pistes de l'Oubli: Touaregs au Niger'', Paris: éditions du Felin, 1991.

== External links ==
{{commons|Tuareg}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Tuareg |volume=27 |page=352 |short=x}}
* [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/tuareg/index.php Tuareg Culture and Art], Bradshaw Foundation
* [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/africa/tuareg_salt_caravans/index.php Franco Paolinellli, "Tuareg Salt Caravans"], Bradshaw Foundation
* [https://africa.si.edu/exhibits/tuareg/who.html Who are the Tuareg?] Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World
* [https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/images/2014/1/9/201419151344267965_8.jpg Tuareg children picture]

{{Clear}}{{Ethnic groups in Algeria}}
{{Ethnic groups in Libya}}
{{Ethnic groups in Niger}}
{{Berber}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuareg People}}
[[Category:Tuareg people| ]]
[[Category:Tribes of Africa]]
[[Category:African nomads]]
[[Category:Modern nomads]]
[[Category:Berber peoples and tribes]]
[[Category:History of the Sahara]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Burkina Faso]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Mali]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Niger]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Algeria]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Libya]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of North Africa]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of West Africa]]
[[Category:Muslim communities in Africa]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in North Africa]]
[[Category:North African people]]
[[Category:Tuareg| ]]
[[Category:Afroasiatic peoples]]