John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series EGYPT and the SAHARA www.johntyman.com/sahara |
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4.8 Case Study Pt. I : The Tuareg : 303-325 |
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John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series EGYPT and the SAHARA www.johntyman.com/sahara |
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4.8 Case Study Pt. I : The Tuareg : 303-325 |
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| .303. Though some people in the Sahara have traditionally herded animals and others have grown crops, the Tuareg have always done both -- though not always in the same way they do today. The once warlike Tuareg now herd animals in the high country of the Central Sahara (between Djanet and Tamanrasset) and own gardens close by. (Tuareg cattle at Fort Gardel, near Djanet) |
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| .304. Related neither to the Arabs nor the Negroes, the Tuareg once occupied much of the northern and central Sahara; but after the Arab invasion they were forced to withdraw southwards, most of them eventually relocating to the Sahel – in present-day Niger and Mali. (Tuareg gardens at Fort Gardel) |
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| .305. Before the French came with their guns and built forts like this (at Serouenout) the Tuareg, with spears and swords, raided their neighbours, who lived in constant fear of attack. The Tuareg were defeated by the French in 1902 but were allowed to maintain their traditional way unhindered for 60 years -- till Algeria gained its independence in 1962. |
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| .306. "Tuareg" from the Arabic Tawarek, means either "those caste out by God" or “those who have abandoned God”; for although they were converted to Islam they are not regarded as true Muslims because they do not understand Arabic, and so cannot read the Koran. The language that they speak is related to that of the Berbers on the northern edge of the desert. (Mosque at Illizi) |
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| .307. They attend the mosque when they can, and when away from home in the desert they still pause for prayer: but they are less zealous in the performance of other religious duties; and do not, for example, observe the month-long fast of Ramadan. (Midday prayers on the Tassili-n-Ajjer) |
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| .308. The Tuareg actually call themselves the "free men" or “noble ones” (Imazighen), and even today some of them range far and wide across the desert with little regard for political boundaries. (Near the mosque at Illizi) |
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| .309. They are divided into social classes or castes, like feudal societies in Europe long ago. At the top of the ladder were the nobles (or imohar), warriors who refused to do any physical work but spent time guarding salt caravans, hunting animals and raiding other tribes. (North of Tamanrasset) |
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| .310. Next came the vassals, the imghad, of mixed Arab and Tuareg descent. They looked after the animals and provided the nobles with meat, milk, and butter -- plus military service in time of war. (Herders moving camp north of Tamanrasset) |
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| .311. At the bottom of the social scale were Negro slaves (or iklan) and contract labourers (haratin), neither of whom could own either land or water. They provided the labour for the tribe's gardens, since the Tuareg have traditionally looked upon farming with contempt. They grew wheat, barley, and millet; and a variety of vegetables ... tomatoes, onions, leeks, cucumbers etc. (Children of workers at Hirhafok north of Tamanrasset) |
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| .312. Their gardens at Djanet supplied them with dates; but since the altitude of Tamanrasset meant it was too cold for date palms, much of the millet grown by Tuareg around the Tassili-n-Ajjer was traditionally bartered for dates at oases like In Salah. (Djanet) |
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| .313. The hard round grains of millet are husked using a mortar and pestle, winnowed using a shallow bowl, then crushed, and cooked to produce a sort of porridge, eaten with cold milk ... men first, then the women and children. As a treat pounded dried dates may be added. (Gardens at Ideles in winter; with millet stalks, melons, and a few dates drying in the sun) |
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| .314. The slaves were also made to dig underground aqueducts (foggaras or quanats) to irrigate the land contracted out to the haratin. These aqueducts tapped into the water held in gravel fans at the foot of escarpments. Each foggara was owned by a number of shareholders and the water was distributed among them -- unevenly, in accordance with their water rights. A series of shafts were sunk and tunnels dug outwards from the bottom of each one to connect them up and channel water to croplands. It was dangerous work, digging in gravel. (Cross section of a quanat, by Samuel Bailey at Wikipedia) |
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| .315. The course of such channels is revealed by the pile of spoil at the top of each shaft, since both the shaft and the channel needed to be cleaned our regularly. Today, however, many such channels are in a poor state of repair and carry little water. They need to be cleaned out periodically (roughly every second year) because tunnels can collapse and shafts can become choked with sand. It is dangerous work and since the abolition of slavery there are few men willing to do the job. (At Hirhafok) |
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| .316. The slaves were obtained on trading trips to lands south of the desert or captured from slave caravans crossing the Sahara on their way to ports in North Africa. The Tuareg treated their slaves well as a rule and many of their men married slave women -- which accounts in part for the darkness of their skin today. In the central Sahara slaves and ex-slaves have typically made up a third of the community. (At Hirhafok) |
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| .317. The haratin are believed to be the descendants of freed slaves and members of trading caravans from the south who chose to remain in the desert. They were exploited as serfs, under a contract system that allowed them to retain one-fifth of the crops they produced. (Terraced garden at Djanet) |
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| .318. They were only allocated a fifth because five factors were considered decisive and of equal importance in dividing up the crop -- soil, water, seed, implements (including work animals) and lastly labour. Since the haratin supplied only one of these five, labour, they received only one fifth of the crop! Yet much hard labour was involved, with gardens divided into basins into which water could be channeled or carried. (At Hirhafok) |
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| .319. In 1962, with the coming of Algerian independence, both slavery and contract labour were abolished, depriving the Tuareg of the food which previously came from their own gardens. (Garden used for production of sun-dried bricks) |
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| .320. From 1962 onwards gardening was to be organized on a co-operative basis, with land being declared “free” to those who worked it. In some cases former slaves and contract labourers were able to obtain land and water rights and farm gardens of their own; but others left the area, to work in the oil fields and cities of the north. (Gardens at Fort Gardel) |
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| .321. At much the same time border disputes with Niger ended the salt trade, and prolonged drought forced the nomads of the central Sahara to abandon their nomadic existence. Today most of the vassals are only semi-nomadic and all of the nobles are sedentary, living year-round in permanent settlements. (Homes in Hirhafok) |
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| .322. Traditionally the Tuareg used small tents made of goat skins, a metre or more in height: but most now use shelters (known as seriba) made from the fronds of the doum palm woven into panels. (Djanet) |
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| .323. Like tents these shelters can, if necessary, be dismantled easily and shifted to a new campsite. However, though some Tuareg are semi-nomadic still, most have settled permanently, despite their contempt for agriculture. (Moving house near Djanet) |
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| .324. The palm mat tent was believed to model the cosmos, with a circular base and a rounded form that mirrored that of the celestial vault. Its four poles, similarly, were compared to the four pillars said to uphold the sky at the four corners of the earth. (Outside Illizi) |
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| .325. Some have attempted to shape bricks homes accordingly, but with less success. (Ideles) |
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