Lake Gossi, or Mare de Grossi, is a body of water near

Gossi Gossi is a town and rural commune in the Cercle of Gourma-Rharous of the Tombouctou Region of Mali, lying northeast of Hombori and southwest of Gao. The town is just to the west of the main RN15 highway that links Mopti with Gao. It is on a sea ...

in the Cercle of Gourma-Rharous of the

Tombouctou Region Tombouctou Region ( Bambara: ߕߎߡߎߕߎ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Tumutu Dineja) is one of the administrative regions of Mali. For administrative purposes, the region is subdivided into five cercles. The region is part of northern Mali that was sepa ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. The lake is near to the town of

. In 1990, with lower rainfall than usual, there was competition over use of the land between cattle grazers and harvesting of

fonio Fonio is the term for two cultivated grasses in the genus ''Digitaria'' that are notable crops in parts of West Africa. They are millets with small grains. Fonio is a nutritious food with a favorable taste. It is consumed mainly in West African ...

grains. Cattle spent three quarters of their grazing time around the shores of the lake, or in depressions. In the dry season, the

Tamasheq Tamashek or Tamasheq is a variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Tamasheq is one of the three main varieties of Tuareg, the others being Tamaja ...

people of the region rely on the lake as an important source of water, their only alternative being pits and wells to reach groundwater that may be underground. The lake is home to a number of waterbird species. As of 2009, the lake was sometimes visited by lone male elephants in January or February. At the start of 1846 the forces of the

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 Al ...

of the

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

area were surprised and defeated by a force of

Fula Fula may refer to: *Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe) *Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) **The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language **The Fula variety known as the Pular language **The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde *Al-Fula ...

lancers from the

Massina Empire The Caliphate of Hamdullahi ( ar, خلافة حمد الله; also: Dina of Massina, Sise Jihad state) commonly known as the Massina empire (also spelled ''Maasina'' or ''Macina'') was an early nineteenth-century Fulbe Jihad state centered in the ...

under Balobbo. As a result, for a period Timbuktu again came under the authority of

Amadu II of Masina Amadu II of Massina (أحمد بن أحمد حمادي; ff, Amadu Amadu Hammadi; c. 1815 – February 1853), also called Amadu Seku, was the second Almami, or ruler, of the theocratic Caliphate of Hamdullahi or Diina of Hamdullahi in what is ...

References

Citations Sources * * * * * Tombouctou Region

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