Editing Tuareg people (section)

==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 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>