HISTORY OF THE IMUHAR (Tuareg) 

SETTLEMENT OF THE SAHARA

It is generally assumed that a split group of the Imaziren (Berber) had migrated from North Africa to the central region of the Sahara where they met settlers. From those groups the society of the Imuhar developed. However, the Imuhar weren't the first Sahara residents. Even early on the Sahara was an area of transit for travellers.

HUNTERS ANDGATHERERS

After the end of the last ice age the Sahara turned into a savannah. Numerous rock engravings bear witness to that time when hunters and gatherers lived in a verdant landscape with wild animals like giraffes, elephants, and crocodiles. Later on cattle farming arrived on the scene. Around 5000BC the desertification of the Sahara began. 

ISEBETEN / KEL IRU

A known group, the Isebeten, inhabited the Ahaggar Mountains in the central Sahara (present-day southern Algeria) before the Imuhar (Tuareg) arrived, as Imuhar reports of the Isebeten attest. The term ‘Isebeten’ can be traced back to an ancient group of Eastern Libya (Cyrenaica and Syrtis/Böhm 2002: 55). The Greeks and the Romans called them Asbyten and the Egyptians of the new empire called them sbt (Ritter 2009:17). The Isebeten lived in caves and their means of subsistence were goatherding and hunting.

Foucauld und Calassanti-Motylinski (1984: 233) retell a story about the Isebeten in their work, where a man, who is on the verge of leaving, is asked what he will take with him. The man lists various things. When he is asked if he has his dromedary with him, the man tells them that he forgot it. The Imuhar generally assume that the Isebeten were not very intelligent. Foucauld (1951-52: 1803) disparagingly refers to the language of the Isebeten as „la langue touaregue dans un dialecte spécial et grossier“. It is assumed that the Isebeten (or parts of the group) became a separate group, possibly the Kel Ulli, within the group of Imuhar (Böhm 2002: 55).  

INVASION OF THE  IMAZIREN („IMAZIGHEN“)

The original coastal inhabitants of North Africa, the Imaziren (Berber), crossed the Sahara early on to trade with West African groups. They crossed the desert as traders, but also as warriors. Soon they began to settle down in the Sahara as well (Sudlow 2001: 2).

INVASION of the AHAGGAR, AHNET AND AZJER MOUNTAINS

Ibn Khaldun reported on two groups in the northern Tuareg area: the Lemta (West) and the Targa (East). Leo Africanus (797ff.) mentioned both groups as well. The Lemta are said to originate from eastern Algeria.

During the invasion (migration flow) of North Africa through the Arabian Beni Hilal and Beni Sulaym in the ninth century (Ibn Khaldun 1852: 75f.) the community of the Hawwara were subjugated, who lived in Tunisia, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (Nicolaisen 1963: 412). Part of the Hawwara, which refused to obey, fled to the South towards the Ahaggar region that was already inhabited by the Lemta. Foucauld (1951: 533) shows the connection of the words ‘Hawwara’ and ‘Ahaggar’, basing his argument on the consonant shift from w to g.

However, it seems that only around 1050AD during the so-called ‘Hilalian invasion’ (Keenan 1977: 16) a major invasion of the Ahaggar region from the North took place. Generally it cannot be assumed that there has only been a single exodus into the Aggahar area (Koosmann 2011: 4).

The Imuhar people were always mobile and so gradually more and more groups from the North replenished the previous Imuhar groups in the Ahaggar Mountains. Hawwara camel breeders for example are said to have met a group of already established goatherds in the Ahaggar area (Keenan 1977). The goatherds had already domesticated sheep (ovis-longipes type) as well as donkeys (Nicolaisen 1963: 485).

The Kel Ahaggar claim Aures (northern Algeria) as their region of origin, while the Kel Ewey claim to originate from Aujilla in Cyrenaica (Libya) (Bernus 2002: 16). The population around the Ahaggar adopted Islam as a religion in the 11th or 12th century (Nicolaisen 1963: 479). During that period Arabs also introduced new saddles, food preparation techniques, forms of clothing, etc. (Nicolaisen 1963: 479). Moreover, they established new political structures, such as the Ettebel group (drummers) or the Khalifa.

INVASION OF THE ADRAR MOUNTAINS (NORTHERN MALI)
It is interesting that Ibn Hawqal already reported about Tawariq in the 10th century in the Malian desert (Djibo Hamani 1989: 88). He talked about groups who had the typical Kel like Kilamut, Kilmakzan, Kilfaruk, Kilsanadat. Therefore, there must have been an early expansion towards the Ardar Mountains (Mali).

The group in the Ardar Mountains split up in the late 17th century. One part moved southwards and became the Iwellemmedan group (Sudlow 2001: 3). The Kel Ataram conquered Timbuktu in 1787 (Sudlow 2001: 3). Briefly after the first split the group of the later Kel Denneg seperated from the Iwellemmedan and migrated from the Ansong/Ménaka region to Tahaoa.
 

INVASION OF BURKINA FASO

About 250 years ago the Oudalan split from the Kel Adrar and migrated to Burkina Faso. There they conquered Fulani territory where they then settled down (Sudlow 2001: 6).
 

INVASION OF THE AYR (NIGER)

It seems that as early as in the seventh century pastoral Imaziren (Berber), including the Lemta and the Zarawa, crossed the Sahara (Nicolaisen1963: 412).

Nicolaisen (1963: 412) states that the Lemta settled down in the area around the Niger and founded the Songhay Empire. The power of the empire with its capital Gao was partly based on the Niger river, which flew much further North than today. The rule of Songhay Empire reached its heights during the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 16th century the empire extended over present day Mali and Senegal to the Atlantic coast and to Kano (Nigeria) in the east and to the Ayr Mountains (Niger). With the invasion of the Moroccans in the 16th century the rule of the Songhay Empire came to an end. The first Imaziren arrived in the Ayr Mountains in the seventh century and founded groups. (Nicolaisen 1963: 412). Leo Afrikanus (cf. 797ff.) reported that the Ayr Mountains are inhabited by the Targa.

Initially, the Ayr region was ruled by groups of Itesen and Immikitan. The Itesen came from an oasis known as Awjila (Cyrenaica/Libya) (Nicolaisen 1963: 412). The Kel Geres, who arrived in the Ayr Mountains between the 12th and the 14th century, also originated from the oasis of Awjila (Nicolaisen 1963: 412; Urvoy 1936). At the end of the 14th century the Kel Ewey, also from Awjila, invaded the Ayr region and put the resident groups under pressure. In the 18th century the Kel Geres retreated to the South as far as up to the border of Nigeria.  (Nicolaisen 1963: 412). Especially the Kel Ewey mixed with the dark-skinned population in the oases (Nicolaisen 1963: 413).

Continuation: History 2