|
|
        |
|
The Tuareg are justly famed as the founders of Timbuktu, which began as a small Tuareg village around 1100 A.D. However the Songhai, a Sub-Saharan group, were the primary occupants of Timbuktu as it became a city. Over time, the Tuareg have repeatedly vied for control of Timbuktu, mounting raids on the town from the vast Sahara. This historical conflict continues today, with the latest event in this long series of battles being the Tuareg revolt of the 1990s in both Mali and Niger. || ROAD TO TIMBUKTU EPISODE || |
|
 Watch video...
Modern-Day Slavery At a market in Mopti, international merchant Oumar Cisse explains modern-day "slavery" between the Tuareg and Bella peoples in Mali. |
The Tuareg are a diffuse group of Berber nomadic peoples. The origins of the Caucasoid Berber peoples in the Sahara, as substantiated by tombs and rock art, is thought to extend back to at least 2000 B.C. Currently, the Tuareg people live in the Sahara and its fringes in Mali, Niger, and Algeria. They have their own ancient alphabet and written script, and a highly stratified system of social classes including a nobility. In pre-colonial times their pastoral economy was supplemented by a warrior ethic and its resulting pillage. They have historically maintained a caste of agricultural dark skinned slaves or serfs, now a veritable ethnic group, termed the Izeggaren or Bella.