The Sahara's Tuareg population

[rivertemz]

What I call "The Africans stuck between two distant worlds of a large continent."

For those who claim Sub-saharan Africa remains separated from North Africa (i.e. @ben) , have no idea what curtural or political stand-point has occured recently that would explain otherwise, the demographic composition of the Sahara desert.




The Tuareg want to create an Independent state in the Sahara, separated from the borders of Mali, Niger and Algeria, called Azward .

To throw away the European colonial borders and recognise their existence in the largest desert in the world and with it's rich natural resources recently discovered in the Sahara.

In late 2011, thousands of Tuareg workers and fighters, many of them mercenaries for slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, return to their Saharan homeland in Niger and Mali.Having lost access to the country that was their only source of livelihood, they find little more than crushing poverty, hunger and drought back home.Barely able to feed their children amidst total state neglect, the men launch a rebellion to found their own country. [Al jazeera News]

[anastasiaescrava]

We discussed some of this not too long ago on here.
Why are they barred from their former countries?
Oh yeah I cant't watch the video, it's banned in U.S.A. for some reason.
Any other similar videos?

[anansi]

Very educational vid seemed to me the answer lays in and combating climate change and desertification ,it often strikes me how sometimes we think living in a desert and moving about is somehow romantic ,when it actually sucks,Mali and Niger are poor nations are not equip to deal with that by themselves just yet,the A.U had better step-up to find solutions.

[rivertemz]

Jun 9, 2014 13:50:33 GMT -5 anastasiaescrava said:

We discussed some of this not too long ago on here.
Why are they barred from their former countries?
Oh yeah I cant't watch the video, it's banned in U.S.A. for some reason.
Any other similar videos?

Are you able to watch Al jazeera news in the US ?

[rivertemz]

[rivertemz]

An entire research blog from an author called; kwekudee from Ghana

The Tuaregs live in five principal north-western African countries, particularly in southern Algeria, southwestern Libya, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Fewer numbers Chad and Nigeria. The population distribution of Tuaregs is quite scanty, however, the unofficial estimates suggest that their total number in the region of approximately 4.5 million. Out of this sum, 85% of them resides in Mali and Niger and the rest between Algeria and Libya. And from the same estimates, they make up from 10% to 20% of the total population of Niger and Mali.


[Tuaregs at the Festival au Desert near Timbuktu, Mali
]


he population of the Libyan Tuaregs is approximately 10,000 Ajjer Tuaregs. About 8,000 Ajjer live along the Algerian border while the rest (2,000) settles in the Oasis of Ghat in the south west of Libya Prasse (Ibid) and Migdalovitz (1989). Tuaregs live in desert areas stretching from the south, Libya to northern Mali, in the Fezzan region of Libya; they are located in the Hoggar region of Algeria Veugdon. In Mali, there are provinces of the Touareg and Ozoad Adgag, but their presence in Niger is mainly in the region of Ayer.



In desert terms, the Tuareg people inhabit a large area, covering almost all the middle and western Sahara and the north-central Sahel. In Tuareg terms, the Sahara is not one desert but many, so they call it Tinariwen ("the Deserts"). Among the many deserts in Africa, there is the true desert Ténéré. Other deserts are more and less arid, flat and mountainous: Adrar, Tagant, Tawat (Touat) Tanezrouft, Adghagh n Fughas, Tamasna, Azawagh, Adar, Damargu, Tagama, Manga, Ayr, Tarramit (Termit), Kawar, Djado, Tadmait, Admer, Igharghar, Ahaggar, Tassili n'Ajjer, Tadrart, Idhan, Tanghart, Fezzan, Tibesti, Kalansho, Libyan Desert, etc.



While there is little conflict about the driest parts of Tuareg territory, many of the water sources and pastures they need for cattle breeding get fenced off by absentee landlords, impoverishing some Tuareg communities. There is also an unresolved land conflict about many stretches of farm land just south of the Sahara. Tuareg often also claim ownership over these lands and over the crop and property of the impoverished Rimaite-people, farming them.

 
[Taureg Woman]

Tuareg has been, until recently, experts familiar with the sub-Saharan pathways by helping the movement of convoys. They do these through their time-honored patience, courage and knowledge of the whereabouts of the water as well their command the stars that guides them. 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)), the warrior of the desert

Talemt (Ursa Major), the she-camel

Awara (Ursa Minor), the baby camel
[Tuaregs from Libya]

[rivertemz]

They Tuareg known internationally by their popular name "the Blue Men of the Sahara," "The Masked people" or "Men of the Veil," because of the indigo colour of the veils and other clothing which their men wear, which sometimes stains the skin underneath. The men only wear this cloth and not the women. Men begin wearing a veil at the age 25.


Tuareg merchants were responsible for bringing goods from these cities to the north. From there they were distributed throughout the world. Because of the nature of transport and the limited space available in caravans, Tuareg usually traded in luxury items, things which took up little space and on which a large profit could be made.






Tuareg were also responsible for bringing enslaved people from the north to west Africa to be sold to Europeans and Middle Easterners. Many Tuareg settled into the communities with which they traded, serving as local merchants.



The Name Tuareg/Toureg

The name Tuareg is an Arabic term meaning "abandoned by God," "ways" or "paths taken". According to some researchers - the word Touareg is taken from the word "Tareka"/"Targa" a valley in the region of Fezzan in Libya. So the name is of Berber origin and is taken from a place in Libya, not the name of the Muslim commander Tariq bin Ziyad, as some people claim. Thus name Tuareg was borrowed from the Berbers living closer to the Mediterranean coast, and was adopted from them into English, French and German during the colonial period. The Berber noun targa means "drainage channel" and by extension "arable land, garden". It designated the Wadi al-Haya area between Sabha and Ubari and is rendered in Arabic as bilad al-khayr "good land".



In The Ottoman Empire the Tuareg were called Tevarikler, however, the Tuaregs call themselves Imuhagh, or Imushagh (cognate to northern Berber Imazighen). Imuhagh is translated as 'free men," referring to the Tuareg "nobility", to the exclusion of the artisan client castes and slaves. The term for a Tuareg man is Amajagh (var. Amashegh, Amahagh), the term for a woman Tamajaq (var. Tamasheq, Tamahaq, Timajaghen).



The spelling variants given reflect the variety of the Tuareg dialects, but they all reflect the same linguistic root. Some Tuaregs preferred to be called Limajgn or Temasheq; and were akin to Amazigh, meaning free men, they became a hybrid by combining in their blood with several races such as Targi, Arabic and Africans, due to the living with the Arabs in the north and with the black Africans in the South.

Also encountered in ethnographic literature of the early 20th century is the name Kel Tagelmust "People of the Veil" and "the Blue People" (for the indigo colour of their veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath.





Y-Dna haplogroups, passed on exclusively through the paternal line, were found at the following frequencies in Tuaregs:



The other major haplogroup is E1b1a mainly found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, a cline appears, with Algerian Tuaregs being closer to other Berbers and Arabs, and those from southern Mali being more similar to Sub-Saharan Africans, see  

Attachments:

[rivertemz]

Read full Article on kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/tuareg-people-africas-blue-people-of.html?m=1

[anastasiaescrava]

Jun 20, 2014 8:41:26 GMT -5 rivertemz said:

Jun 9, 2014 13:50:33 GMT -5 anastasiaescrava said:

We discussed some of this not too long ago on here.
Why are they barred from their former countries?
Oh yeah I cant't watch the video, it's banned in U.S.A. for some reason.
Any other similar videos?

Are you able to watch Al jazeera news in the US ?

Not that specific video for some reason..

[anansi]

Jun 22, 2014 21:42:10 GMT -5 anastasiaescrava said:

Jun 20, 2014 8:41:26 GMT -5 rivertemz said:

Are you able to watch Al jazeera news in the US ?

Not that specific video for some reason..

Geez that's funny I could view in Japan.

[azrur]

The Al jazeera did not allow the video in US but there is ways for you to get around it