Tuareg people

Berber people of the Sahara desert with a nomadic pastoralist lifestyle
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The Tuareg (Arabic: طوارق, sometimes spelled Touareg in French, or Twareg in English) are a Berber ethnic group. The Tuareg today lives mostly in West Africa, but they were once nomads that moved throughout the Sahara. They used their own writing known as the tifinaɤ.

Tuareg
Kel Tamasheq
ⴾⵍⵜⵎⴰⵣⵗⵜ
طوارق
A Tuareg man
Total population
c. 3 million
Regions with significant populations
 Niger2,116,988 (8.7% of its total population)[1]
 Mali536,557 (2.6% of its total population)[2]
 Burkina Faso370,738 (1.85% of its total population)[3]
 Algeria25,000–150,000 (0.36% of its total population)
 Tunisia2,000 (nomadic, 0.018% of its total population)
Languages
Tuareg languages (Tafaghist, Tamahaq, Tamasheq, Tamajeq, Tawellemmet), Maghrebi Arabic, French, Hassaniya Arabic
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Other Berbers, Hausa people

Today most Tuaregs are Muslim. Their most important leader was a woman. Tuareg men use veils, but not women. Their families are matrilinear.

References

change
  1. "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2016-10-08., Niger: 11% of 18.6 million
  2. Pascal James Imperato; Gavin H. Imperato (2008). Historical Dictionary of Mali. Scarecrow. p. lxxvii. ISBN 978-0-8108-6402-3., Mali: 3% of 17.9 million population
  3. "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2016-10-08., Burkina Faso: 1.9% of 19.5 million