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Bir El-Garama
Bir el-Garama is a well in the south of Algeria in Tamanrasset Province, northeast of Tamanrasset, known as the site where a large part of the French colonial Flatters Expedition was wiped out by Tuaregs. It is better known on French maps by its Tamahaq language name: Tagmout T-an Koufar, or 'well of the foreigner'. Location Bir el-Garama is also known as Tagmout, Taguienout or Tadjenout, but the latter are common Tuareg place names used all over their territory. It is about above sea level. The Arabic name means "well of the Garamentes". It is close to the course of the Oued Ti-n-Tarabine which peters out into the desert near the Niger border close to the old border post of I-n- Azaoua. Flatters expedition In 1881 Paul Flatters led an expedition south to survey a route for a trans-Saharan railway. Before the expedition left Ouargla plans had been made to destroy it by the Kel Ahaggar Tuaregs of the Hoggar Mountains, the Awlad Sidi Shaykh confederation and the Senussi. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamanrasset Province
Tamanrasset or Tamanghasset ( ar, ولاية تمنراست ''Wilāya Tamanrāssat'', Berber languages) is the largest province (''wilaya'') in Algeria. It was named after its province seat, Tamanrasset. The province has two national parks, more than any other in Algeria. They are Tassili n'Ajjer National Park and Ahaggar National Park. The province is the largest in Algeria as it is 557,906 km² large. Geography It is located in the deep southern region of Algeria and is 2000 km south of Algiers (capital of Algeria). On the north it is bordered by In Salah Province, on the north-east by Illizi Province, on the east by Djanet Province, on the south by In Guezzam Province, and on the west by Adrar Province, the second largest province by area, and Bordj Badji Mokhtar Province. Tamanrasset also has an international border with Niger. The province is the largest Algerian province with area of 336,854 km2 (130,060 sq mi) although it is located in the heart of the de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamanrasset
Tamanrasset (; ar, تامنراست), also known as Tamanghasset or Tamenghest, is an oasis city and capital of Tamanrasset Province in southern Algeria, in the Ahaggar Mountains. It is the chief city of the Algerian Tuareg. It is located an altitude of . As of the 2008 census, it has a population of 92,635, up from 72,741 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 2.5%. Tamanrasset was originally established as a military outpost to guard the trans-Saharan trade routes. Surrounded by the barren Sahara Desert, very high temperatures of over have been recorded here. Tamanrasset is located at an oasis where, despite the difficult climate, citrus fruits, apricots, dates, almonds, cereals, corn, and figs are grown. The Tuareg people were once the town's main inhabitants. Tamanrasset is a tourist attraction during the cooler months. Visitors are also drawn to the Museum of the Hoggar, which offers many exhibits depicting Tuareg life and culture. The city is served by Tamanrasset Airport ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Conquest Of Algeria
The French invasion of Algeria (; ) took place between 1830 and 1903. In 1827, an argument between Hussein Dey, the ruler of the Deylik of Algiers, and the French consul escalated into a blockade, following which the July Monarchy of France invaded and quickly seized Algiers in 1830, and seized other coastal communities. Amid internal political strife in France, decisions were repeatedly taken to retain control of the territory, and additional military forces were brought in over the following years to quell resistance in the interior of the country. Algerian resistance forces were divided between forces under Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif at Constantine, primarily in the east, and nationalist forces in the Kabylia and the west. Treaties with the nationalists under Emir Abdelkader enabled the French to first focus on the elimination of the remnants of the Deylik, achieved with the 1837 Siege of Constantine. Abd Al-Qādir continued to give stiff resistance in the west. Finally dri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Flatters
Paul Flatters (16 September 1832 – 16 February 1881) was a French soldier who spent a long period as a military administrator in Algeria. He is known as leader of the Flatters expedition, an ill-fated attempt to explore the route of a proposed Trans-Saharan railway from Algeria to the Sudan. Almost all members of the expedition were massacred by hostile Tuaregs. The survivors resorted to eating grass and to cannibalism on the long retreat through the desert. After a brief outburst of public indignation the fiasco was forgotten. Background and early years (1832–53) Paul-François-Xavier Flatters was the son of Jean-Jacques Flatters (1786–1845) and Émilie-Dircée Lebon. His father came from Westphalia to Paris to study sculpture and painting. He was a student of Jean-Antoine Houdon and Jacques-Louis David, and was second in the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1813. He served in the French army from February to July 1814 at the close of the First French Empire. During the Bourb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuareg People
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') 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. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria. The Tuareg speak languages of the same name (also known as ''Tamasheq''), which belong to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. The Tuaregs have been called the "blue people" for the indigo dye coloured clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin. They are a semi-nomadic people who practice Islam, and are descended from the indigenous Berber communities of Northern Africa, which have been described as a mosaic of local Northern African (Taforalt), Middle Eastern, European (Early European Farmers), and Sub-Saharan African-related ancestries, prior to the Arab expansion. Tuareg peopl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamahaq Language
Tamahaq (''Tahaggart Tamahaq'', ''Tamahaq Tahaggart'') is the only known Northern Tuareg language, spoken in Algeria, western Libya and northern Niger. It varies little from the Southern Tuareg languages of the Aïr Mountains, Azawagh and Adagh. The differences mostly consist of sound substitutions, such as ''Tamahaq'' instead of ''Tamajaq'' or ''Tamasheq''. Varieties There are three main varieties of Tamahaq: *''Tahaggart'', spoken around the Ahaggar Mountains in southern Algeria by the Kel Ahaggar confederation *''Ajjer'', spoken by the Kel Ajjer confederation *''Ghat'', spoken around Djanet in southeast Algeria and Ghat Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of ... in Libya. According to Blench (2006), Tahaggart and Ghat are distinct Tuareg languages. References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garamantes
The Garamantes ( grc, Γαράμαντες, translit=Garámantes; la, Garamantes) were an ancient civilisation based primarily in present-day Libya. They most likely descended from Iron Age Berber tribes from the Sahara, although the earliest known record of their existence dates to the fifth century BC. Little remains of their civilization, as their epigraphy is nearly indecipherable; much of what is known comes from contemporaneous Greek and Roman foreign accounts and modern archaeological findings. The Garamantes emerged as a major regional power in the mid-second century AD, establishing a kingdom that spanned roughly in the Fezzan region of southern Libya. Their growth and expansion rested on a complex and extensive qanat irrigation system (known as ''foggaras'' in Berber), which supported a strong agricultural economy and large population. They subsequently developed the first urban society in a major desert that was not centered on a river system; their largest town, Gar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ouargla
Ouargla ( Berber: Wargrən, ar, ورقلة) is the capital city of Ouargla Province in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. It has a flourishing petroleum industry and hosts one of Algeria's universities, the University of Ouargla. The commune of Ouargla had a population of 133,024 in the 2008 census, up from 112,339 in 1998, and an annual population growth rate of 1.7%. However, including the commune of Rouissat, found in Ouargla's urban area, gives a total population of 191,136. Historical Ouargla According to Ibn Khaldun the town was founded by Banu Wargla who, accompanied by sections of the Maghrawa and Banu Ifran, left the Tlemcen region and founded Ouargla. These Berbers of Ouarghla then embraced Ibadi doctrines, which later made the town an attractive refuge for the citizens of Tahert. In the 11th century, Banu Hilal, an Arab tribe living between Nile and Red Sea, settled in Tunisia, Tripolitania (western Libya) and Constantinois (eastern Algeria) which was Ouargla p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kel Ahaggar
Kel Ahaggar ( Berber: ⴾⵍ ⵂⴴⵔ) (trans: "People of Ahaggar") is a Tuareg confederation inhabiting the Hoggar Mountains (Ahaggar mountains) in Algeria. The confederation is believed to have been founded by the Tuareg matriarch Tin Hinan, whose monumental tomb is located at Abalessa. The official establishment is dated to around 1750. It has been largely defunct since 1977, when it was terminated by the Algerian government. The language of the confederation is '' Tahaggart'', a dialect of Tamahaq. Tribes The Kel Ahaggar confederation is made up of a number of tribes, including: *Aït Loaien *Dag Rali (also spelled Dag Ghâli) *Iregenaten *Kel Rela, the ruling tribe. *Kel Silet *Taituq *Tégéhé Millet Popular culture *A novel about the 1881 attempt by the French government to drive a railroad through the heart of the Sahara, including the Ahaggar region. The expedition, led by Lt. Colonel Paul Flatters, was attacked by the Tuareg of the Kel Ahaggar. *The 1957 film ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoggar Mountains
The Hoggar Mountains ( ar, جبال هقار, Berber: ''idurar n Ahaggar'') are a highland region in the central Sahara in southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. The mountains cover an area of approximately 550,000 km. Geography This mountainous region is located about south of the capital, Algiers. The area is largely rocky desert with an average elevation of more than above sea level. The highest peak, Mount Tahat, is at . The mountains are primarily composed of metamorphic rock approximately 2 billion years old, although there are areas where more recent volcanic activity has laid down much newer rock. Several of the more dramatic peaks, such as Ilamen, are the result of erosion wearing away extinct volcano domes, leaving behind the more resistant material that plugged the volcanic cores. Assekrem is a famous and often visited point where Charles de Foucauld built a hermitage in 1911. The main city near the Hoggar Mountains is Tamanrasset, built in a desert val ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awlad Sidi Shaykh
The Awlad Sidi Shaykh (or Ouled Sidi Cheikh) was a confederation of Arab tribes in the west and south of Algeria led by the descendants of the Sufism, Sufi saint Sidi Shaykh. The Awlad had religious authority, and also owned agricultural settlements and engaged in trade. During the French occupation of Algeria they alternately cooperated with and opposed the colonialists. Origins The Awlad Sidi Shaykh trace their ancestry to the saint Sidi Shaykh, a descendant of Muhammad's father-in-law Abu Bakr, the first caliph. In the 16th century the growing population in the south-western Algerian Sahara created a need for more intense farming and for collaboration between farmers and nomads. Saint Sidi Shaykh founded a community of date farmers and nomads engaged in the caravan trade. A. G. P. Martin dates this to 1651, when the ''walis'' of the Tuat and Gurara (Algeria), Gurara brought the Sharifian ideology to the villages of the Zenata Berbers. The headquarters was a prayer-meditation cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
