:"Tuareg" redirects here. For other uses, see Tuareg (disambiguation) {{ infobox Ethnic group | group = Tuareg | image = | poptime = 5.2 million | popplace = | rels = Islam | langs = The Tuareg language(s) (Tamasheq, Tamajeq, Tamahaq) | related = Berbers }}

The Tuareg (also Twareg or Touareg, Berber: Imuhagh, besides regional ethnyms) are a Berber nomadic pastoralist people. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.

They call themselves variously Kel Tamasheq or Kel Tamajaq; ⴾⴻⵍ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵌⴰⵆ ("Speakers of Tamasheq"), Imuhagh, Imazaghan or Imashaghen ("the Free people"), or Kel Tagelmust, i.e., "People of the Veil". The name Tuareg was applied to them by early explorers and historians (since Leo Africanus).

The origin and meaning of the name Twareg has long been debated with various etymologies advanced, although 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", see Alojali et al. 2003: 656, s.v. "Targa").

The Tuareg today are found mostly in North Africa and West Africa. Some historians claim they progressively moved south over the last 2000 years. They were once nomads throughout the Sahara. They have a little-used but ancient script known as the Tifinagh. the Tuareg were subdued and required to sign treaties in Mali 1905 and Niger 1917. In southern Morocco and Algeria, the French met some of the strongest resistance from the Ahaggar Tuareg. Their Amenokal, traditional chief Moussa ag Amastan, fought numerous battles in defense of the region. Finally, Tuareg territories were taken under French governance, and their confederations were largely dismantled and reorganized.

Before French colonization, the Tuareg were organized into loose confederations, each consisting of a dozen or so tribes. Each of the main groups had a traditional leader called Amenokal, along with an assembly of tribal chiefs (imɣaran, singular amɣar). The groups were the Kel Ahaggar, Kel Ajjer, Kel Ayr, Adrar n Fughas, Iwəlləmədan, and Kel Gres.

When African countries achieved widespread independence in the 1960s, the traditional Tuareg territory was divided among a number of modern nations: Niger, Mali, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and Burkina Faso. Competition for resources in the Sahel have since lead to conflicts between the Tuareg and neighboring African groups, especially after political disruption and economic constraints following French colonization and independence. There have been tight restrictions placed on nomadization because of high population growth. Desertification is exacerbated by human activity i.e.; exploitation of resources and the increased firewood needs of growing cities. Some Tuareg are therefore experimenting with farming; some have been forced to abandon herding and seek jobs in towns and cities.

In Mali, a Tuareg uprising resurfaced in the Adrar N'Fughas mountains in the 1960s, following Mali's independence. Several Tuareg joined, including some from the Adrar des Iforas in northeastern Mali. The 1960 rebellion was a fight between a group of Tuareg and the independent state of Mali, which was then only recently formed. The Malian Army suppressed the revolt. Resentment among the Tuareg fueled the second uprising.

This second uprising was in May 1996. At this time, in the aftermath of a clash between government soldiers and Tuareg outside a prison in Tchin-Tabaraden, Niger, Tuaregs in both Mali and Niger claimed autonomy for their traditional homeland: (Tenere, capital Agadez, in Niger and the Azawad and Kidal regions of Mali). Deadly clashes between Tuareg fighters (with leaders such as Mano Dayak) and the military of both countries followed, with deaths numbering well into the thousands. Negotiations initiated by France and Algeria led to peace agreements (January 11, 1992 in Mali and 1995 in Niger). Both agreements called for decentralization of national power and guaranteed the integration of Tuareg resistance fighters into the countries' respective national armies.

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 groups struggling for independence. In 2007, a new surge in violence occurred.

Traditional social stratification

Traditionally, Tuareg society is hierarchical, with nobility and vassals. Each Tuareg clan (tawshet) is made up of several family groups, led by their collective chiefs, the amghar. A series of tribes tawsheten 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". E.g. Kel Dinnig (those of the east), Kel Ataram (those of the west).

Mobility

The work of pastoralism was specialized according to social class. Tels are ruled by the imúšaɣ (Imajaghan, The Proud and Free) nobility, warrior-aristocrats who organized group defense, livestock raids, and the long-distance caravan trade. Below them were a number of specialised métier castes. The ímɣad (Imghad, singular Amghid), the second rank of Tuareg society, were free vassal-herdsmen and warriors, who pastured and tended most of the confederation's livestock. Formerly enslaved vassals of specific Imajaghan, they are said by tradition to be descended from nobility in the distant past, and thus maintain a degree of social distance from lower orders. Traditionally, some merchant castes had a higher status than all but the nobility among their more settled compatriots to the south. With time, the difference between the two castes has eroded in some places, following the economic fortunes of the two groups.

Imajaghan have traditionally disdained certain types of labor and prided themselves in their warrior skills. The existence of lower servile and semi-servile classes has allowed for the development of highly ritualised poetic, sport, and courtship traditions among the Imajaghan. Following colonial subjection, independence, and the famines of the 1970s and 1980s, noble classes have more and more been forced to abandon their caste differences. They have taken on labor and lifestyles they might traditionally have rejected.

Client castes

After the adoption of Islam, a separate class of religious clerics, the Ineslemen or marabouts, also became integral to Tuareg social structure. Following the decimation of many clans' noble Imajaghan caste in the colonial wars of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Ineslemen gained leadership in some clans, despite their often servile origins. Traditionally Ineslemen clans were not armed. They provided spiritual guidance for the nobility, and received protection and alms in return.

Inhædˤæn (Inadan), were a blacksmith-client caste who fabricated and repaired the saddles, tools, household equipment and other material needs of the community. In most communities, the Inadin were freedmen drawn from the servile éklan caste and considered outsiders by the other classes.

Bonded castes and slaves

The Tuareg once held slaves (éklan / Ikelan in Tamasheq, Bouzou in Hausa, Bella in Songhai).

Tuareg moved south on the continent in the 11th century AD, taking slaves from other groups. These éklan once formed a distinct social class in Tuareg society. Some Tuareg noble and vassal men married slaves, and their children became freemen. Eklan formed distinct sub-communities; they were a class held in an inherited serf-like condition, common among societies in precolonial West Africa.

When French colonial governments were established, they passed legislation to abolish slavery, but did not enforce it. Some commentators believe the French interest was directed more at dismantling the traditional Tuareg political economy, which depended on slave labor for herding, than at freeing the slaves. Historian Martin Klein reports that there was a large scale attempt by French West African authorities to liberate slaves and other bonded castes in Tuareg areas following the 1914–1916 Firouan revolt. Despite this, French officials following the Second World War reported there were some 50,000 "Bella" under direct control of Tuareg masters in the Gao - Timbuktu areas of French Soudan alone. This was at least four decades after French declarations of mass freedom had happened in other areas of the colony. In 1946, a series of mass desertions of Tuareg slaves and bonded communities began in Nioro and later in Menaka, quickly spreading along the Niger River valley. In the first decade of the 20th century, French administrators in southern Tuareg areas of French Soudan estimated "free" to "servile" Tuareg populations at ratios of 1 to 8 or 9. At the same time the servile "rimaibe" population of the Masina Fulbe, roughly equivalent to the Bella, made up between 70% to 80% of the Fulbe population, while servile Songhai groups around Gao made up some 2/3 to 3/4 of the total Songhai population. According to the Travel Channel show, Bob Geldof in Africa, the descendants of those slaves known as the Bella are still slaves in all but name. In Niger, where the practice of slavery was outlawed in 2003, a study found that almost 8% of the population are still enslaved.

Tuareg territory

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 Tenere. 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.

Tuareg confederations, political centers, and leaders

At the turn of the 19th century, the Tuareg territory was organized into confederations, each ruled by a supreme Chief (Amenokal), along with a counsel of elders from each tribe. These confederations are sometimes called "Drum Groups" after the Amenokal's symbol of authority, a drum. Clan (Tewsit) elders, called Imegharan (wisemen), are chosen to assist the chief of the confederation. Historically, there are seven recent major confederations:

Kel Ajjer or Azjar: center is the oasis of Aghat (Ghat).

Kel Ahaggar, in Ahaggar mountains.

Kel Adagh, or Kel Assuk: Kidal, and Tin Buktu

Iwillimmidan Kel Ataram, or Western Iwillimmidan: Ménaka, and Azawagh region (Mali)

Iwillimmidan Kel Denneg, or Eastern Iwillimmidan: Tchin-Tabaraden, Abalagh, Teliya Azawagh (Niger).

Kel Ayr: Assodé, Agadez, In Gal, Timia and Ifrwan.

Kel Gres: Zinder and Tanut (Tanout) and south into northern Nigeria.

Kel Owey: Air Massif, seasonally south to Tessaoua (Niger)

Historic Tuareg leaders

The most legendary of Tuareg leaders was Tin Hinan, heroine and spiritual leader, believed to have ruled in the fourth or fifth century CE. Tin-Hinan was a Berber princess and often accompanied by her sister Takamat. They came from the Tafilalt mountains in Morocco (Ataram) and founded a legendary kingdom in the Ahaggar mountains. Other confederation leaders followed under the title of Amenokal (Chief), of whom the most famous include:

Amattaza, of the Lisawan

Afadandan, of the Lisawan

Karidanna, of the Iwillimmidan

Waisimudan, of Iwillimidan

Aljilani Ag Ibrahim, of Iwillimidan

Busari Ag Akhmad, of Iwillimidan

Musa Ag Amastan, of Kel Ahaggar

Ibrahim Ag Abakkada, of Kel Azjar

Amud, of Kel Azjar

Makhammad Ag Katami, of Iwillimmidan

Balkhu, of Kel Ayr

Wan Agoda, of Kel Faday (Kel Ayr)

Ahitaghal, of Kel Ahaggar

Akhanokhan, of Kel Azjar

Khadakhada, of Iwillimidan

Alkhurer, of Iwillimidan

Bazu, Iwillimidan

Makhammad Wan Ag Alkhurer Iwillimidan

Abdurrakhman Tagama, of Kel Ayr

Hammed Almomin Iwillimidan

Fihrun Ag Amansar, of Iwillimidan

Atisi Ag Amellal of Kel Ahaggar

Akhamok Ag Ihemma of Kel Ahaggar

Bay Ag Akhamok of Kel Ahaggar

Khamzata Ag Makhammad, of Iwillimidan

Edaber Ag Makhammad the new Amenokal of Kel Ahaggar

Culture

Clothing

The Tuareg are "largely matrilineal". In Tuareg society women do not traditionally wear the veil, whereas men do. The most famous Tuareg symbol is the Tagelmust (also called éghéwed), referred to as a Cheche, pronounced "Shesh", from Berber), an often indigo blue-colored veil called Alasho. 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 amulets containing sacred objects and from recently also 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.

tagelmust: turban - men

alasho: blue indigo veil - women and 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

bernuz: long woolen cloth for winter

akhebay: loose bright green or blue cloth for women

ighateman: shoes

iragazan: red leather sandals

ibuzagan: leather shoes

Marriage is considered a private institution. Other people are not to interfere with a couple's marriage. The only tradition they know is a 'quarantine' period after one's spouse's death. During this period, the widow is supposed to make something whereby her husband may be remembered. She is not to see any other men. Men usually have to cleanse themselves physically and mentally after the death of a wife. There was not commonly punishment for women or men who were unfaithful.

Tuareg are not supposed to have more than one life partner: a love affair is practically equal to an engagement, and once a couple is recognized, the two people are supposed to get married. It is highly unusual for anyone to remain single. When a partner passes away, the survivor is expected to marry again after the period of quarantine. Exceptions are made if there are no potential partners, or the widow or widower is too old to get married.

Many Tuareg today are either settled agriculturalists or nomadic cattle breeders, though there are also blacksmiths and caravan leaders.

The Tuareg are sometimes called the "Blue People" because the indigo pigment in the cloth of their traditional robes and turbans stained their skin dark blue. Today, the traditional indigo turban is still preferred for celebrations, and generally Tuaregs wear clothing and turbans in a variety of colors.

Food

Taguella: Taguella is a flat bread made from millet which is cooked on charcoals in the sand and eaten with a heavy sauce.

Millet porridge: Millet porridge 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.

Dairy: Goat's milk and camel's milk are turned into cheese and yogurt or drunk plain.

Eghajira: Beverage 'eaten' with a ladle because its so thick. It's made by pounding millet, goat cheese, dates, milk and sugar and served on festivals like Eid ul fitr and Eid ul adha.

Tea: Made with gunpowder tea, is poured three times in and out of a tea pot with mint and sugar into tiny tea glasses.

Language

The Tuareg speak Tamajaq/Tamasheq/Tamahaq, a southern Berber language having several dialects among the different regions. The Berber dialects spoken in the Rif (Tamazight), Atlas and Souss regions of Morocco differ somewhat from each other and also from the Tuareg dialects spoken further south. Berber is an Afro-Asiatic language like Semitic languages, Chadic languages and Pharaonic Egyptian. The language is called Tamasheq by western Tuareg in Mali, Tamahaq among Algerian and Libyan Tuareg, and Tamajaq in the Azawagh and Aïr regions, Niger. The Tamajaq writing system, Tifinagh (also called Shifinagh), descends directly from the original Berber script used by the Numidians in pre-Roman times.

Arts

Much Tuareg art is in the form of jewelry, leather and metal saddle decorations called trik, and finely crafted swords. The Inadan community makes traditional handicrafts. Among their products are: tanaghilt or zakkat (the 'Agadez Cross' or 'Croix d'Agadez'); the Tuareg Takoba, many gold and silver-made necklaces called 'Takaza'; and earrings called 'Tizabaten'.

Astronomy

Living in a desert land with skies rarely cloudy, the Tuareg are keen observers.

Tuareg Stars and Constellations:

Azzag Willi: indicating the time for milking the goats (Venus)

Shet Ahad: the seven sisters of the night (Pleiades)

Amanar: the warrior of the desert (Orion)

Talemt: she-camel (Ursa Major)

Awara: baby camel (Ursa Minor)

Traditional Houses

The oldest legends says Tuarerg once lived in grottoes, akazam, and then they lived in folliage beds made on the top acacia trees, tasagesaget, to avoid numerous wild animal during old times and even to this day to escape from mosquitoes. Other kinds of traditional housing include:

ahaket: Tuareg goatskin red tent

tafala: a shade made of millet sticks

akarban also called takabart: temporary hat for winter season

ategham: hat for hot season

taghazamt: adobe house for long stay

ahaket:a dome shaped house made of mats for the dry season

Tuareg weapons

takoba: 1 meter long straight sword

allagh: 2 meter long lance

agher: 1.50 meter high shield

tagheda: small and sharp assegai

taganze: leather covered-wooden bow

amur: wooden arrow

sheru: long dagger

taburek: wooden stick

alakkud or abartak: riding crop

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. The exhibition also was shown at the University of California, Los Angeles Fowler Museum in Los Angeles and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.

Throughout history, the Tuareg were renowned and respected warriors. Their decline as a military might came with the introduction of firearms, weapons which the Tuareg did not possess. The Tuareg warrior attire consisted of a takoba (sword), allagh (lance) and aghar (shield) made of antelope's skin.

Traditional music

Traditional Tuareg music has two major components: the moncord violin anzad played often during night parties and a small tambour covered with goatskin called tende, performed during camel and horse races, and other festivities. Traditional songs called Asak and Tisiway (poems) are sung by women and men during feasts and social occasions. Another popular Tuareg musical genre is takamba, characteristic for its Afro-Berber percussions.

Vocal music

tisiway: poems

tasikisikit: songs performed by women, accompanied by tende, men on camel back turn around

asak: songs accompanied by anzad monocord violin.

tahengemmit: slow songs sung by elder men

Children and youth music

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. Tinariwen is one of the best known and authentic Tuareg bands. Especially in areas that were cut off during the Tuareg rebellion (e.g., Adrar des Iforas), they were practically the only music available, which made them locally famous and their songs/lyrics (e.g. Abaraybone, ...) are well known by the locals. 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.

Many music groups emerged after the 1980s cultural revival. Among the Tartit, Imaran and known artists are: Abdallah Oumbadougou from Ayr, Baly Othmany of Djanet.

Tuareg Music genres, groups and artists

Traditional Music

Majila Ag Khamed Ahmad, singer Asak (vocal music), of Aduk, Niger

Almuntaha female Anzad (Tuareg violin) player, of Aduk, Niger

Ajju female Anzad (Tuareg violin) player, of Agadez, Niger

Islaman singer, genre Asak (vocal music), of Abalagh, Niger

Tambatan singer, genre Asak (vocal music), Tchin-Tabaraden, Niger

Alghadawiat female Anzad (Tuareg violin) player, of Akoubounou, Niger

Taghdu female Anzad (Tuareg violin) player, of Aduk, Niger

Ishumar Music or Teshumara music style

In Tayaden singer and guitar player, Adagh

Abareybon singer and guitar player, Tinariwen group, 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

Music and culture festivals

The Desert Festival 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 Festival in Aghat (Ghat), Libya

Le Festival au Désert in Mali

Ghadames Berber and Tuareg Festival in Libya

Games

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.

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 make people laugh.

Maja Gel Gel: one person tries to touch all people standing, to avoid this sit down.

Bellus: everyone run not to be touched by the one who plays.

Tamammalt: pass a burning stick, when its blown off in ones hands tells who's the lover.

Ideblan: game with girl 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.

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

(Algeria)]]

Tuareg are distinguished in their native language as the Imouhar, meaning the free people; the overlap of meaning has increased local cultural nationalism. The Tuareg are a pastoral people, having an economy based on livestock breeding, trading, and agriculture. Lack of consensus on how to classify the Tuareg is probably part of the reason for the widely varying estimates of population size.

Ethnic flag

The Tuareg ethnic flag is red, white, and blue.

In popular culture

The Tuareg are the antagonists of the French Foreign Legion in Percival Christopher Wren's 1924 adventure novel Beau Geste and the films that were based on it.

Tupac Shakur, an African American hip-hop artist, descendant of the Tuareg people through his father Billy Garland.

Spanish author Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa's novel Tuareg (1980) was his most critically and commercially successful, with global sales in excess of 5,000,000 copies.

The 2005 film Sahara featured a fictionalised group of Tuareg as a faction in a civil war underway in Mali.

Bruce Sterling used a fictionalised Tuareg tribe in his novel Islands in the Net.

David Ball's 1999 novel Empires of Sand tells the story of French and Tuareg cousins.

French author J. M. G. Le Clézio's novel Desert tells of the last days of the Tuareg, the desert nomads known as the "Blue People".

In 2003 Volkswagen introduced a new SUV named the Touareg.

In 2009 Vivisphere Publishing released The Tuareg a romantic historical adventure. ISBN 978-1-58776-157-7

In the Nickelodeon animated series, , the nomadic characters known as "sand benders" are based on the Tuareg people.

In the video game "Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War," Tuaregs are available to the player as mercenary troops. However, their portrayal shows them as similar to Mongolian troops from the time of Genghis Khan, rather than North African nomads.

In the 1999 film The Mummy an army of Tuaregs attacks the French Foreign Legion at Hamunaptra.

The culture's tradition of honored guest was romanticized in the 1984 movie starring Mark Harmon, Tuareg - The Desert Warrior

See also

Azaouad

Berber mythology

Maafa

Notes

References

Ghoubeid Alojaly, Karl Prasse, Ghabdouane Mohamed, Dictionnaire touareg-français, Copenhague, Museum Tusculanum, 2003 (2 vols., 1031 p.) - ISBN 87-7289-844-5

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 Air or Asben in the Central Sahara, London, MacMillan & Co., 1926 (repr. Oosterhout, N.B., Anthropological Publications, 1966)

Heath Jeffrey 2005: A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali). New York: Mouton de Gruyer. Mouton Grammar Library, 35. ISBN 3-11-018484-2

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.

Further reading

Edmond Bernus, "Les Touareg," pp. 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., "Touregs: Exil et Résistance". Révue du Monde Musulman et de la Méiterranée, No. 57, Aix en Provence: Edisud, 1991.

Claudot-Hawad, Touaregs, Portrait en Fragments, Aix en Provence: Edisud, 1993.

Hélène and Hawad Claudot-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

People of Africa

Franco Paolinellli, "Tuareg Salt Caravans", Bradshaw Foundation

Origin and History of the Tuaregs

The Massacres at Tchin Tarabaden: 10 years later!. This press release (7 May 2000), while polemical, is useful for a pro-Tuareg view of the conflicts in Mali and Niger.

Ethnologue 14 pages for Niger, Mali, etc., used for population estimates.

Tuareg is not an Ethnos, accessed 2 February 2004, available on Internet Archive. Cited for the low-end estimate of population.

A comprehensive tuareg chronology along with lists of amenokals from Kel Ahaggar, Kel Adagh and Kel Azawagh . le site internet de tassouft et de ses amis (hoggar, algérie) Maps of Niger, pictures of Agadez, Tuaregs, and handcraft from Niger; also a forum

Tuareg Culture and Art

Rain for the Sahel and Sahara - a non profit that partners with Tuareg communities in Niger

Category:African nomads Category:Berber people Category:Sahara Category:Libyan society Category:Ethnic groups in Algeria Category:Ethnic groups in Mali Category:Ethnic groups in Niger Category:Ethnic groups in the Arab League Category:Indigenous peoples of West Africa Category:Muslim communities in Africa

tuareg dudes are cool!!!

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Issn	0140-0460
Website	www.thetimes.co.uk
Circulation	502,436 March 2010

The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785, when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.

The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of News International. News International is entirely owned by the News Corporation group, headed by Rupert Murdoch. Though traditionally a moderately centre-right newspaper and a supporter of the Conservatives, it supported the Labour Party in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. In 2005, according to MORI, the voting intentions of its readership were 40% for the Conservative Party, 29% for the Liberal Democrats, 26% for Labour.

The Times is the original "Times" newspaper, lending its name to many other papers around the world, such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Times (Malawi), The Times of India, The Straits Times, The Times of Malta and The Irish Times. For distinguishing purposes it is therefore sometimes referred to, particularly in North America, as the 'London Times' or 'The Times of London'. The paper is the originator of the ubiquitous Times Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of The Times in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation for its legibility in low-tech printing.

The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, but switched to tabloid size in 2004 partly in an attempt to appeal to younger readers and partly to appeal to commuters using public transport. An American edition has been published since 6 June 2006.

Today

The newspaper's cover price in the United Kingdom is £1 on weekdays (40p for students at some university campus shops) and £1.50 on Saturday. The Times's sister paper, The Sunday Times, is a broadsheet and priced at £2.20. Although The Times and The Sunday Times are both owned by News International, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, they do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have shared the same owner only since 1967. In November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in its new font, Times Modern.

History

The Times was founded by John Walter (publisher) on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, with Walter in the role of editor. Walter changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, John Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name. John Walter Sr. had already spent sixteen months in Newgate prison for libel printed in The Times, but his pioneering efforts to obtain Continental news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers.

The Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of The Times were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers.

In 1809, John Stoddart was appointed general editor, replaced in 1817 with Thomas Barnes. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for The Times the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.").The increased circulation and influence of the paper was based in part to its early adoption of the steam driven rotary printing press. Distribution via steam trains to rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence.

The Times was the first newspaper to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War, was immensely influential with his dispatches back to England. , in John Everett Millais' painting Peace Concluded.]] In other events of the nineteenth century, The Times opposed the repeal of the Corn Laws until the number of demonstrations convinced the editorial board otherwise, and only reluctantly supported aid to victims of the Irish Potato Famine. It enthusiastically supported the Great Reform Bill of 1832 which reduced corruption and increased the electorate from 400 000 people to 800 000 people (still a small minority of the population). During the American Civil War, The Times represented the view of the wealthy classes, favouring the secessionists, but it was not a supporter of slavery.

The third John Walter (the founder's grandson) succeeded his father in 1847. The paper continued as more or less independent. From the 1850s, however, The Times was beginning to suffer from the rise in competition from the penny press, notably The Daily Telegraph and The Morning Post.

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.

The Times faced financial extinction in 1890 under Arthur Fraser Walter, but it was rescued by an energetic editor, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell. During his tenure (1890–1911), The Times became associated with selling the Encyclopædia Britannica using aggressive American marketing methods introduced by Horace Everett Hooper and his advertising executive, Henry Haxton. However, due to legal fights between the Britannica's two owners, Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson, The Times severed its connection in 1908 and was bought by pioneering newspaper magnate, Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe.

In editorials published on 29 and 31 July 1914 Wickham Steed, the Times's Chief Editor argued that the British Empire should enter World War I. On 8 May 1920, under the editorship of Wickham Steed, the Times in an editorial endorsed the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as a genuine document, and called Jews the world’s greatest danger. In the leader entitled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Steed wrote about the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?".

The following year, when Philip Graves, the Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) correspondent of the Times exposed The Protocols as a forgery, the Times retracted the editorial of the previous year.

In 1922, John Jacob Astor, a son of the 1st Viscount Astor, bought The Times from the Northcliffe estate. The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement; then-editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with those in the government who practised appeasement, most notably Neville Chamberlain.

Kim Philby, a Soviet double agent, served as a correspondent for the newspaper in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Philby was admired for his courage in obtaining high-quality reporting from the front lines of the bloody conflict. He later joined MI6 during World War II, was promoted into senior positions after the war ended, then eventually defected to the Soviet Union in 1963.

Between 1941-1946, the left-wing British historian E. H. Carr served as Assistant Editor. Carr was well-known for the strongly pro-Soviet tone of his editorials. In December 1944, when fighting broke out in Athens between the Greek Communist ELAS and the British Army, Carr in a Times editorial sided with the Communists, leading Winston Churchill to condemn him and that leader in a speech to the House of Commons. As a result of Carr’s editorial, the Times became popularly known during World War II as the threepenny Daily Worker (the price of the Daily Worker was one penny)

In 1967, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson, and on 3 May 1966 it started printing news on the front page for the first time. (Previously, the paper's front page featured small advertisements, usually of interest to the moneyed classes in British society.) The Thomson Corporation merged it with The Sunday Times to form Times Newspapers Limited.

An industrial dispute prompted the management to shut the paper for nearly a year (1 December 1978–12 November 1979).

The Thomson Corporation management were struggling to run the business due to the 1979 Energy Crisis and union demands. Management were left with no choice but to save both titles by finding a buyer who was in a position to guarantee the survival of both titles, and also one who had the resources and was committed to funding the introduction of modern printing methods.

Several suitors appeared, including Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland and Lord Rothermere; however, only one buyer was in a position to fulfil the full Thomson remit. That buyer was the Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch

In 1981, The Times and The Sunday Times were purchased from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International.

Murdoch soon began making his mark on the paper, replacing its editor, William Rees-Mogg, with Harold Evans in 1981. One of his most important changes was in the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. In March–May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print The Times since the 19th century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photo-composition. This allowed the staff of the print rooms of The Times and The Sunday Times to be reduced by half. However, direct input of text by journalists ("single stroke" input) was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, which saw The Times move from its home at New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street) to new offices in Wapping.

In June 1990, The Times ceased its policy of using courtesy titles ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes for living persons) before full names on first reference, but it continues to use them before surnames on subsequent references. The more formal style is now confined to the "Court and Social" page, though "Ms" is now acceptable in that section, as well as before surnames in news sections.

In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. On 13 September 2004, the weekday broadsheet was withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland. Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format.

The Conservative Party announced plans to launch litigation against The Times over an incident in which the newspaper claimed that Conservative election strategist Lynton Crosby had admitted that his party would not win the 2005 General Election. The Times later published a clarification, and the litigation was dropped.

On 6 June 2005, The Times redesigned its Letters page, dropping the practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. Published letters were long regarded as one of the paper's key constituents. Author/solicitor David Green of Castle Morris Pembrokeshire has had more letters published on the main letters page than any known contributor - 158 by 31 January 2008. According to its leading article, "From Our Own Correspondents", removal of full postal addresses was in order to fit more letters onto the page.

In a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications who were investigating media ownership and the news, Murdoch stated that the law and the independent board prevented him from exercising editorial control.

In May 2008 printing of The Times switched from Wapping to new plants at Broxbourne, on the outskirts of London, Merseyside and Glasgow, enabling the paper to be produced with full colour on every page for the first time.

Controversy and image

Long considered the UK's newspaper of record, The Times is generally seen as a serious publication with high standards of journalism. It is not without trenchant critics: Robert Fisk, seven time British International Journalist of the Year, resigned as foreign correspondent in 1988 over what he saw as "political censorship" of his article on the shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988.

Some allege that The Times' partisan opinion pieces also damage its status as 'paper of record,' particularly when attacking interests that go against those of its parent company - News International. It recently published an opinion piece attacking the BBC for being 'one of a group of' signatories to a letter criticising BSkyB share options in October 2010

Readership profile and image

The British Business Survey 2005 named The Times as the UK's leading daily newspaper for business people. This independent survey was sponsored by The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist, and The Times.

The latest figures from the national readership survey show The Times to have the highest number of ABC1 25–44 readers and the largest numbers of readers in London of any of the "quality" papers. The certified average circulation figures for November 2005 show that The Times sold 692,581 copies per day. This was the highest achieved under the last editor, Robert Thomson, and ensured that the newspaper remained ahead of The Daily Telegraph in terms of full rate sales, although the Telegraph remains the market leader for broadsheets, with a circulation of 905,955 copies. Tabloid newspapers, such as The Sun and middle-market newspapers such as the Daily Mail, at present outsell both papers with a circulation of around 3,005,308 and 2,082,352 respectively.[6] By March 2010 the paper's circulation had fallen to 502,436 copies daily and the Telegraph's to 686,679, according to ABC figures.

Format and supplements

The Times features news for the first half of the paper with the leading articles on the second page, the Opinion/Comment section begins after the first news section, the world news normally follows this. The business pages begin on the centre spread, and are followed by The Register, containing obituaries, Court & Social section, and related material. The sport section is at the end of the main paper.

Literary Supplement

The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) is a separately-paid-for weekly literature and society magazine.

Science Reviews

Between 1951 and 1966 The Times published a separately-paid-for quarterly science review, The Times Science Review. Remarkably, in 1953 both the newspaper and its science supplement failed to report on the discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge, which was reported on by both the News Chronicle and The New York Times.

The Times started another new (but free) monthly science magazine, Eureka, in October 2009.

times2

The Times's main supplement was the times2, featuring various lifestyle columns. It was discontinued on 1 March 2010, most of its regular features being absorbed into the main paper, the puzzles into a new supplement called Mind Games. Its previous incarnation began on 5 September 2005, before which it was called T2 and previously Times 2. Regular features included columns by a different columnist each weekday. There was a column by Marcus du Sautoy each Wednesday, for example. The back pages were devoted to puzzles and contain sudoku, "Killer Sudoku", "KenKen", word polygon puzzles, and a crossword simpler and more concise than the main "Times Crossword". The penultimate page was "Young Times", with puzzles and news for children. All these features are now found in Mind Games.

The supplement also contained arts and lifestyle features, TV and radio listings and reviews which have now become their own weekly supplements.

The Game

The Game is included in the newspaper on a Monday, and details all the weekend's Football activity (Premier League and Football League Championship, League One and League Two.) The Scottish edition of The Game also includes results and analysis from Scottish Premier League games.

Saturday supplements

The Saturday edition of The Times contains a variety of supplements. These supplements were relaunched in January 2009 as: Sport, Weekend (including travel and lifestyle features), Saturday Review (arts, books, and ideas), The Times Magazine (columns on various topics), and Playlist (an entertainment listings guide).

Saturday Review is the first regular supplement published in broadsheet format again since the paper switched to a compact size in 2004.

The Times Magazine features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Giles Coren, Food And Drink Writer of the Year in 2005.

Online presence

The Times and Sunday Times have had an online presence since March 1999, originally at the-times.co.uk and sunday-times.co.uk, and later at timesonline.co.uk. In April 2009, the timesonline site had a readership of 750,000 readers per day. As of September 2008, The Times Online travel section has been partnered with VacationRentalPeople, who provide all of The Times Online's rental property listings.

Paywall

Rupert Murdoch argued that readers should pay for online content, and since July 2010, News International requires readers that do not already subscribe to the print edition to pay £1 per day or £2 per week to access Times and Sunday Times content.

There are now two websites, instead of one: thetimes.co.uk is aimed at daily readers, and the thesundaytimes.co.uk site at providing weekly magazine-like content.

According to figures released in November 2010 by The Times, 100,000 people had paid to use the service in its first four months of operation, as well as another 100,000 people who receive free access due to subscribing to the printed version of the newspaper. Visits to the websites have decreased by 87% since the paywall was introduced, from 21 million unique users per month to 2.7 million.

In November 2010, The Times partnered with 3G mobile network Three mobile to offer its broadband customers free access to its paywalled sites thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk for three months.

Sponsored events

The Times, along with the British Film Institute, sponsors the London Film Festival (or more specifically, The Times bfi London Film Festival). As of 2005, it is Europe's largest public event for motion pictures.

The Times also sponsors the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House, London.

Political allegiance

The Times was a traditional Conservative Party supporter, even after its 18-year rule in government was ended by the Labour landslide of 1997, but for the 2001 general election the party declared its support for Tony Blair's Labour government, who were re-elected by a landslide. It supported Labour again in 2005, when it achieved a third successive election win, though with a vastly reduced majority. For the 2010 general election, however, the newspaper declared its support for the Tories once again; the election ended in the Tories taking the most votes and seats but having to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to form a government as they had failed to gain an overall majority in the election.

Ownership

John Walter (1785–1803)

John Walter, 2nd (1803–1847)

John Walter, 3rd (1847–1894)

Arthur Fraser Walter (1894–1908)

Lord Northcliffe (1908–1922)

Astor family (1922–1966)

Roy Thomson (1966–1981)

News International (subsidiary of News Corporation), run by Rupert Murdoch (1981— )

Editorship

Columnists and journalists

Murad Ahmed

Michael Atherton

Guillem Balague

Simon Barnes

Alice Bowe

Peter Brookes, leader-page cartoonist

David Brown

Kaya Burgess

Rachel Campbell-Johnston

Sam Coates

Giles Coren

Robert Crampton

Ginny Dougary

Stephen Farrell

Daniel Finkelstein

Richard Ford

Adam Fresco

Joanna Geary

Frances Gibb

Brian Glanville

Ruth Gledhill

Michael Gove

Nico Hines

Anthony Howard

Philip Howard

Ben Hoyle

Mick Hume

Anatole Kaletsky

Patrick Kidd

Magnus Linklater

Richard Lloyd Parry

Anthony Loyd, war correspondent on retainer

Ben Macintyre

Sam Marlowe, theatre reviewer

Stefanie Marsh

Hugh McIlvanney

Alice Miles

Caitlin Moran

Michael Moran

Morten Morland, political cartoonist

Richard Morrison

Kate Muir

Matthew Parris

Grayson Perry

Catherine Philp

Libby Purves

Lord Rees-Mogg

Peter Riddell

Hugo Rifkind

Aki Riihilahti

Nick Robinson

Alyson Rudd

Dan Sabbagh

Sathnam Sanghera

Marcus du Sautoy

David Sinclair

Graham Stewart

Andrew Sullivan

Richard Susskind

Ann Treneman

Janice Turner

Philip Webster

Tom Whipple

Tom Whitwell

Tony Halpin

Alexander Williams, cartoonist

Jeremy Clarkson

Other publications

(Times Books Group Ltd)

The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 2007 ISBN 978-0-00-780150-3

Biography

Harold Evans, Good Times, Bad Times. Includes sections of black and white photographic plates, plus a few charts and diagrams in text pages.

In fiction

In the dystopian future world of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Times had been transformed into the organ of the totalitarian ruling party, its editorials—of which several are quoted in the book—reflecting Big Brother's pronouncements.

Rex Stout's fictional detective Nero Wolfe is described as fond of solving the London Times crossword puzzle at his New York home, in preference to those of American papers.

In the James Bond series, written by Ian Fleming, the title character, James Bond, reads The Times. As described by Fleming in From Russia, with Love: "The Times was the only paper that Bond ever read."

References

External links

The new Times site.

The new Sunday Times site

Times World Atlases official website including a History and Heritage section detailing landmark Times atlases

Archive from 1785 to 1985 - full text and original layout, searchable (not free of charge, registration required)

The Times editor Robert Thomson lecture online: From the editorial desk of The Times, RMIT School of Applied Communication Public Lecture series

Anthony Trollope's satire on the mid-nineteenth century Times

Journalism Now: The Times Winchester University Journalism History project on the Times in the nineteenth century

Category:Newspapers published in the United Kingdom Category:News Corporation subsidiaries Category:The Times Category:Publications established in 1785