Tuareg people

Lore & Background

The Tuareg speak the Tuareg languages, which include Tamasheq, Tamahaq, Tamajeq and Tawellemmet, all of which belong to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. 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 Northern African (Taforalt), Middle Eastern, European (Early European Farmers), and Sub-Saharan African, prior to the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. 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. Tuareg people are credited with spreading Islam in North Africa and the adjacent Sahel region. Tuareg social structure has traditionally included clan membership, social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation. The Tuareg have controlled several trans-Saharan trade routes and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the colonial and post-colonial eras.

Reader's Guide

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 Libyan region commonly known as Fezzan. Targa in Berber means '(drainage) channel'. Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from Tuwariq, the plural of the Arabic exonym Tariqi. Also compare Hassaniya Arabic Ṭwāreg, plural of Ṭāreg, ultimately derived from Berber targa. 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. Two other Tuareg self-designations are Kel Tamasheq, meaning 'speakers of Tamasheq', and Kel Tagelmust, meaning 'veiled people' in allusion to the tagelmust garment that is traditionally worn by Tuareg men. The 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. Another term for the Tuareg is Imuhagh or Imushagh, a cognate to the northern Berber self-name Imazighen.

Did You Know?

• The Tuareg are the majority ethnic group in the Kidal Region of northeastern Mali.
• A small subgroup known as the Kinnin Tuareg have historically inhabited Northern Darfur in western Sudan.
• The Tuareg traditionally speak Tuareg languages, also known as Tamasheq, Tamajeq or Tamahaq.
• The term for a Tuareg man is Amajagh, and for a woman Tamajaq.