The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the

Tibesti Mountains The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and i ...

that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

and northeastern

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesherders and nomads or as farmers near oases. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures and wells. The Toubou are generally divided into two closely related groups: the Teda (or Téda, Toda) and the Dazagara (or Dazzaga, Dazagada, Daza). They are believed to share a common origin and speak the

Tebu languages Tebu is a small family of two Saharan languages, consisting of Daza and Teda. It is spoken by the two groups of Toubou people, the ''Daza'' and ''Teda''. Tebu is predominantly spoken in Chad and in southern Libya by around 580,000 people. Daza ...

, which are from the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Tebu is divided further into two closely related languages, called '' Tedaga'' (Téda Toubou) and '' Dazaga'' (Dazaga Gouran). Of the two groups, the Daza, found to the south of the Teda, are more numerous. The Toubou people are also referred to as the Tabu, Tebu, Tebou, Tibu, Tibbu, Toda, Todga, Todaga, Tubu, Tuda, Tudaga, or Gorane people. The Dazaga are sometimes referred to as Gouran (or Gorane, Goran, Gourane), an Arabian exonym. Many of Chad's leaders have been Toubou (Gouran), including presidents Goukouni Oueddei and

Hissène Habré Hissène Habré (Arabic: ''Ḥusaīn Ḥabrī'', Chadian Arabic: ; ; 13 August 1942 – 24 August 2021), also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 u ...

Distribution

The Toubou people have historically lived in northern Chad, northeastern Niger, and southern Libya. They have sometimes been called the "black nomads of the Sahara". They are distributed across a large area in the central Sahara, as well as the north-central Sahel. They are particularly found north of the

Tibesti mountains The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and i ...

, which in Old Tebu means "Rocky Mountains". The first syllable "Tu" refers to the Tibesti mountains, as known by the natives (Teda), and the second syllable "bo" refers to blood in the Kanembou language; thus, people from the Tibesti mountains are referred to as Tubou." Their name is derived from this. The Teda are found primarily in the Sahara regions around the borders of southeast Libya, northeast

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesChad. They consider themselves a warrior people. The Dazagra live towards the Sahel region and are spread over much of north-central Chad. The Dazagra consist of numerous clans. Some major clans of the Dazagara, or Gouran, include the Anakaza, Choraga, Dazza, Djagada, Dogorda, Donza, Gaida, Kamaya, Karra, Ketcherda, Kokorda, Mourdiya, Salmah, Wandja, Yierah and many more. The Dazagra cover the northern regions of

Bourkou Borku (french: Borkou) or Borgu (') is a region of Central Africa, mostly in Northern Chad, forming part of the transitional zone between the arid wastes of the Sahara and the fertile lands of the central Sudan. It is bounded N. by the Tibesti M ...

, the

Ennedi Plateau The Ennedi Plateau is located in the northeast of Chad, in the regions of Ennedi-Ouest and Ennedi-Est. It is considered a part of the group of mountains known as the Ennedi Massif found in Chad, which is one of the nine countries that make up ...

, the Tibesti Mountains and Bahr el Gazel in the south. There is a diaspora community of several thousand Dazaga living in Omdurman, Sudan and a couple of thousand working in Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

History

The ancient history of the Toubou people is unclear. They may be related to the 'Ethiopians' mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

in 430 BCE, as a people being hunted by the

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 kn ...

, but this is speculative, as Jean Chapelle argues. Furthermore, scholars such as Laurence P. Kirwan stress that the Garamantes and the Toubou seem to occupy the same lands. Which spans from the Fezzan (Phazania) as far south as Nubia. Further evidence is given by

Harold MacMichael Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael (15 October 1882 – 19 September 1969) was a British colonial administrator who served as High Commissioner for Palestine. Early service Educated at Bedford School, MacMichael graduated with a first from Magdalene ...

states that the Bayuda desert was still known as the desert of Goran; a name as MacMichael has shown, connected with the Kura'án of today. This reaffirms that the Kura'án (Goran) of today, occupy much of the same territory as the Garamantes once did. In

Islamic literature Islamic literature is literature written by Muslim people, influenced by an Islamic cultural perspective, or literature that portrays Islam. It can be written in any language and portray any country or region. It includes many literary forms incl ...

, the earliest mention as the Toubou people is perhaps that along with the

Zaghawa people The Zaghawa people, also called Beri or Zakhawa, are a Sahelian Muslim ethnic group primarily residing in Fezzan North-eastern Chad, and western Sudan, including Darfur. Zaghawas speak the Zaghawa language, which is an eastern Saharan langu ...

in an 8th-century text by Arabic scholar

Ibn Qutaybah Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī better known simply as Ibn Qutaybah ( ar-at, ابن قتيبة, Ibn Qutaybah; c. 828 – 13 November 889 CE / 213 – 15 Rajab 276 AH) was an Islamic scholar of Persian ...

. The 9th century

al-Khwarizmi Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī ( ar, محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, Muḥammad ibn Musā al-Khwārazmi; ), or al-Khwarizmi, was a Persian polymath from Khwarazm, who produced vastly influential works in mathematics, astronom ...

mentions the Daza people (southern Toubou).

Genetics

According to a study published in ''

The American Journal of Human Genetics The ''American Journal of Human Genetics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of human genetics. It was established in 1948 by the American Society of Human Genetics and covers all aspects of heredity in humans, includin ...

'' (Haber et al. 2016) that examined Y-DNA haplogroups from samples obtained from 75 Toubou men, haplogroups associated with paternal Eurasian ancestry were present at rates of 34% for R1b, 31% for T1a, and 1% for J1. The African associated haplogroup

E-M78 Haplogroup E-V68, also known as E1b1b1a, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup found in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia and Europe. It is a subclade of the larger and older haplogroup, known as E1b1b or E-M215 (also roughly ...

were present at rates of 28%, while

E-M81 E-M215, also known as E1b1b and formerly E3b, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is a division of the macro- haplogroup E-M96, which is defined by the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation M215. In other words, it is one of ...

appeared at a rate of 5%. The study also found that 20-30% of Toubou autosomal DNA was Eurasian in origin, and their African ancestral component was best represented by Laal-speaking populations. The most likely source of this Eurasian DNA, according to the analysis, would be a population originating among

Near Eastern The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

farmers during the Neolithic Revolution. In contrast, Near Eastern populations scored African ancestry at a rate of 7%-14% (Yemen) to 0.7%-5% (Lebanese Christians). Other ethnic groups in the Chad, such as the

Sara people The Sara people are a Central Sudanic ethnic group native to southern Chad, the northwestern areas of the Central African Republic, and the southern border of North Sudan. They speak the Sara languages which are a part of the Central Sudanic lan ...

and the Laal speakers had considerably lower Eurasian admixture, at only 0.3%-2% (Sara) and 1.25%-4.5% (Laal).

Society

Livelihood

Toubou life centers on raising and herding their

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

, or on farming the scattered oases where they cultivate dates and grain and legumes. Their herds include

dromedaries The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius'' or ;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus ''Camelus'', with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three species of ...

, goats, cattle, donkeys and sheep. The livestock is a major part of their wealth, and they trade the animals. The livestock is also used as a part of dowry payment during marriage, either as one where the groom's family agrees to pay to the bride's family in exchange for the bride, or, states Catherine Baroin, it is given by the bride's kin to supply the young couple with economic resources in order to start a family. In a few places, the Toubou also mine salt and

natron Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate ( Na2CO3·10H2O, a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. ...

, a salt-like substance which is essential in nearly all components of Toubou life from medicinal purposes, as a mixture in chewing tobacco, preservation, tanning, soap production, textiles and for livestock. Literacy rates among the Toubou are quite low.

Clan

Many Toubou people still follow a semi-nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. Those who prefer a settled life typically live in palm-thatched, rectangular or cylindrical mud houses. The Toubou are patrilineal, with an elder male heading the lineage. The second order of Toubou kinship is to the clan. According to Jean Chapelle who has troubled many in his book in Borkou, a colonial officer of History specializing in Chadian ethnic groups, the clan system developed out of necessity. Nomadic life means being scattered throughout a region; therefore, belonging to a clan means that the individual is likely to find hospitable clan people in most settlements or camps of any size. A second factor is the maintenance of ties with the maternal clan. Although the maternal clan does not occupy the central place of the parental clan, it provides ties. The third factor is protective relationships at the primary residence. Despite shared linguistic heritage, few institutions among the Toubou generate a broader sense of identity than the clan. Regional divisions do exist, however. During the colonial period (and since independence in 1960), Chadian administrations have conferred legality and legitimacy on these regional groupings by dividing the Toubou and Daza regions into corresponding territorial units called cantons and appointing chiefs to administer them. Toubou legal customs are generally based on Islamic law, that allows restitution and revenge. Murder, for example, is settled directly between the families of the victim and the murderer. Toubou honour requires that someone from the victim's family try to kill the murderer or a relative; such efforts eventually end with negotiations to settle the matter. Reconciliation follows the payment of the ''Goroga'' (Islamic tenet of Diyya), or blood money. Among the Tomagra clan of the Teda people in the

Tibesti The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and ...

region, there is a '' derde'' (spiritual head) who is recognized as the clan judge, and arbitrates conflict and levies sanctions.

Social stratification

The Toubou people, states Jean Chapelle, have been socially stratified with an embedded caste system. The three strata have consisted of the freemen with a right to own property, the artisanal castes and the slaves. The endogamous caste of ''Azza'' (or ''Aza'') among Toubou have the

artisanal An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

occupations, such as metal work, leather work, salt mining, well digging, dates farming, pottery and tailoring, and they have traditionally been despised and segregated by other strata of the Toubou, much like the ''Hadahid'' caste in southeastern Chad among the

. According to Paul Lovejoy – a professor of African History, the 19th century records show that these segregated Toubou castes followed the same customs and traditions as the rest of the Toubou, but they were independent in their politics and beliefs, much like the artisan castes found in many ethnic groups of western Chad such as the Kanembou, Yedina, Arab, Kouri and Danawa. Marriage between a member of the Azza and a member from a different strata of the Toubou people has been culturally unacceptable., Quote: ""Like the Tuareg, the Toubous have a distinct hierarchy, with three separate levels: Teda/Daza, Aza artisans and slaves. (...)

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...

the blacksmiths were segregated from the larger populace and seen as contemptible. (...) No Teda/Daza would think of marrying a blacksmith. They are a caste apart, marrying only among themselves." The language used by the Azza people is a variant of the Tubou (Teda) language. The lowest social strata were the slaves (''Aggara''). Slaves entered Toubou Teda and Gourane Dazagara societies from raids and warfare on other ethnic groups in lands to their south. All slaves were the property of their masters, their caste was endogamous, and their status was inherited by birth. In 1953, the noble chief Kellei Chahami of Kamaya declared the emancipation of all slaves in Borkou region, while slaves from the contiguous regions, such as Tibesti and Ennedi, uncovered the emancipation centre located in Borkou. These slaves escaped and sought refuge in Borkou under the Kamaya, where they were liberated by the esteemed chief Kellei Chahami, who granted them their own zone neighbourhood, which has been originally named Ni-Agaranga, which literally translates to the country of slaves in Faya-Largeau city; however, the Borkou municipality rechristened it to the district of eight for euphemism. Toubou Teda dwellers of the Tibesti region, in particular, allege and refer to their slaves as Kamadja, their authentic designation, which is a mistranslation of Kamaya, who are grudgingly and despairingly attempting to derogate the Gourane Kamaya clans’ federation due to the honourable chief's commendable humanitarian decree of the liberation. The researchers (historians) mistranslated and misread the letters "y" to "j" in the names of several clans and rural areas. As a result, the term "Kamadja" does not exist in the Tedaga nor Dazaga language. Kamaya is derived from "Kama dro yeda" in the Kanem Dazaga language, which effectively states to "one who lives in the valley" of Faya. Traditionally, the clans of the Kamaya were known as Kama-yanga. However, it has been subsequently transformed into Kamaya. Kamaya is the plural, Kamaye is the male singular, and Kamaydo is the female singular.

Marriage

The Toubou culture forbids marriage between cousins, up to 9 generation unrelateds, a practice common among many Muslim ethnic groups in Africa. A man may marry and have multiple wives according to Islamic tenets, however, this practice is only somewhat prevalent in Toubou society. The ownership of land, animals, and resources takes several forms. Within an oasis or settled zone belonging to a particular clan, land, trees (usually date palms), and nearby

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

s may have different owners. Each family's rights to the use of particular plots of land are recognized by other clan members. Families also may have privileged access to certain wells and the right to a part of the harvest from the fields irrigated by their water. Within the clan and family contexts, individuals also may have personal claims to palm trees and animals.

Contemporary conditions

Chad

Much of the political class of Chad are drawn from Dazaga. During the First Chadian Civil War (1966-1979), the '' derde'' came to occupy a more important position. In 1965 the Chadian government assumed direct authority over the

Mountains, sending a military garrison and administrators to Bardaï, the capital of Tibesti Sub-prefecture. Within a year,

abuses of authority Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

had roused considerable opposition among the Toubou. The ''derde'',

Oueddei Kichidemi Oueddei Kichidemi was the father of the former Chadian President Goukouni Oueddei and was the tribal leader, or ''derde'', of the Toubou Teda of the Tibesti during the First Chadian Civil War. Derde The ''derde'' exercises judicial rather than e ...

, recognized but little respected up to that time, protested the excesses, went into exile in

, and, with the support of Toubou students at the Islamic University of Bayda, became a symbol of opposition to the Chadian government. This role enhanced the position of the derde among the Toubou. After 1967 the ''derde'' hoped to rally the Toubou to the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT).

Moral authority Moral authority is authority premised on principles, or fundamental truths, which are independent of written, or positive, laws. As such, moral authority necessitates the existence of and adherence to truth. Because truth does not change, the princi ...

became military authority shortly thereafter when his son, Goukouni Oueddei, became one of the leaders of the Second Liberation Army of FROLINAT. Goukouni was to become a national figure; he played an important role in the battles of N'Djamena in 1979 and 1980 and served as head of state for a time. Another northerner,

of the Dazagra, replaced Goukouni of the Teda in 1982, and lost eventually power to the Zaghawa

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ' (18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the president of Chad from 1990 until his death in 2021. Déby was a member of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. A high-ranki ...

after 8 years.

Libya

The Toubou minority in Libya suffered what has been described as "massive discrimination"Summary prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) of the annex to Human rights Council resolution 5/1: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
/ref> both under the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi as well as after the Libyan civil war. In a report released by the

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

, the

Society for Threatened Peoples The Society for Threatened Peoples International STPI (german: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker-International, GfbV-International) is an international NGO and human rights organization with its headquarters in Göttingen, Germany. Its aim is ...

(STP) reported "massive discrimination" against the Toubou minority, which resides in the southeastern corner of the country around the oasis town of

Kufra Kufra () is a basinBertarelli (1929), p. 514. and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in ...

. In December 2007, the Gaddafi government stripped Toubou Libyans of their citizenship, claiming that they were not Libyans, but rather Chadians. In addition, local authorities denied Toubou people access to education and healthcare. In response, an armed group called the Toubou Front for the Salvation of Libya (TFSL) staged an uprising in November 2008 which lasted for five days and claimed 33 lives before being crushed by government security forces. Despite resistance and public condemnation, the Gaddafi regime continued its persecution of the Toubou minority in Libya. Beginning in November 2009, the government began a program of forced eviction and demolition of Toubou homes, rendering many Toubou homeless. Several dozens who protested the destruction were arrested, and families who refused to leave their homes were beaten. In the Libyan Civil War, Toubou tribespeople in Libya sided with the rebel anti-Gaddafi forces and participated in the Fezzan campaign against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, briefly capturing the town of

Qatrun Qatrun, Al Katrun, Gatrone, or Al Gatrun ( ar, القطرون) is a village in the Murzuq District in southern Libya on the main road to Chad and Niger. It has a filling station (gas station) and a Niger consulate office is located there. When the ...

and claiming to capture

Murzuk Murzuk, Murzuq, Murzug or Merzug ( ar, مرزق) is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya.Robinson, Harry (1960) "Murzuq" ''The Mediterranean Lands'' University Tutorial Press, London, p. 414 ...

for the rebel movement a month later. In March 2012, bloody clashes broke out between Toubou and Arab tribesmen in the southern city of

Sabha, Libya Sabha, or Sebha ( ar, سبها, Sebhā), is an oasis city in southwestern Libya, approximately south of Tripoli. It was historically the capital of the Fezzan region and the Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames and is now capital of the Sabha ...

. In response, Issa Abdel Majid Mansour, the leader of the Toubou tribe in Libya threatened a separatist bid, decrying what he saw as "ethnic cleansing" against Toubou and declaring "We announce the reactivation of the Toubou Front for the Salvation of Libya to protect the Toubou people from ethnic cleansing." The TFSL was the opposition group active in the unrest of 2007–2008 that was "ruthlessly persecuted" by the Gaddafi government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toubou People Ethnic groups in Chad Ethnic groups in Libya Ethnic groups in Niger African nomads Chadian–Libyan conflict Muslim communities in Africa