The Tuareg people (or Touareg) are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.[7] Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria.
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".[18] Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from Tuwariq, the plural of the Arabic exonym Tariqi
Early history
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 century.[26] 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.[27]
External accounts of interaction with the Tuareg are available from at least the 10th century onwards. Ibn Hawkal (10th century), El-Bekri (11th century), Edrisi (12th century), Ibn Batutah (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, fourteenth century scholar, Ibn Khaldûn probably has some of the most detailed commentary on the life and people of the Sahara, though he apparently never actually met them
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The legend is that "In antiquity, the Tuareg moved southward from the Tafilalt region (oasis in Morocco) into the Sahel under the Tuareg founding queen Tin Hinan, who is believed to have lived between the 4th and 5th century."
How much evidence say the Tuareg actually did come from Morocco?
Are there any Tuareg left in Morocco? Today they are largest in Niger (see chart), where they are around 11% of the population and secondly Mali at around 3% of the population
Djehuti Member # 6698
posted
The Tuareg are divided into different clans or Kelen (singular Kel). I have heard of the legendary matriarch Tin Hinan and that she originated from a more northerly area but I don't recall hearing anything about Morocco, also most sources cite experts who think that the ancestral Tuareg region is the Fezzan area of Libya.
Shebitku Member # 23742
posted
There are no Tuaregs in Morocco unless they're immigrants from neighbouring countries.
Its a tourism thing were they take people to meet "Tuaregs" when in reality they're Sahrawis
Djehuti Member # 6698
posted
^ That's what I thought. The traditional Tuareg territory doesn't include any part of Morocco.
posted 