Bir el-Garama is a well in the south of Algeria in

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 ...

, northeast of

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 alt ...

, known as the site where a large part of the

French colonial French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. Many former French colonies, especially those in Southeast Asia, have previously been reluctant to promote their colonial architecture ...

Flatters Expedition was wiped out by

Tuareg 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 A ...

s. It is better known on French maps by its

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 ...

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 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 kn ...

". 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 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 ...

led an expedition south to survey a route for a trans-Saharan railway. Before the expedition left

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 ...

plans had been made to destroy it by the

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, w ...

Tuaregs of the

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 ...

, the

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 settlement ...

confederation and the

Senussi The Senusiyya, Senussi or Sanusi ( ar, السنوسية ''as-Sanūssiyya'') are a Muslim political-religious tariqa (Sufi order) and clan in colonial Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Senussi ( ar, السنوسي ...

. They knew the planned route and were kept informed by the expedition guides, who helped sabotage the expedition by leading it past wells. It is said six hundred men of the three tribes gathered to ambush the expedition near Bir el-Garama. Tuaregs had been shadowing the expedition for several days when it approached the wells of Bir-el-Gharama. However Flatters considered that Ahitagel ag Muhammad Biska, the

Amenukal Amenukal ( Berber: ⵎⵏⴾⵍ, ⴰⵎⵏⵓⴽⴰⵍ) is a title for the highest Tuareg traditional chiefs; the paramount confederation leader. History Prior to the colonial period in the Maghreb and Sahel, the nomadic Tuareg federations chose a ...

of the Kel Ahaggar, completely controlled the area and would ensure that no French were harmed in his land. Near In-Uhawen, or the wells of Tadjenout, Flatters left his baggage in camp with half his troops while he and his officers and scientific staff went to find the well, followed by the camels. Flatters told a guide who warned of danger, "we have nothing to fear". Half an hour after they found the well, Flatters and his men were surrounded by a large force of Tuaregs armed with lances and muzzle-loading muskets. Some men tried to flee on the camels, but the animals refused to leave the well. Flatters, Masson, Beringer, Roche, Guiard and the expedition's commissary Deverny were killed, as were 30 camel drivers. Only ten men escaped. The Tuaregs took almost all of the 250 camels.

Notes

Sources

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