History

Tuareg is an Arabic term that means abandoned by God. They call themselves Imohag, which can be translated as free men. No one knows the true origin of the Tuareg, where they came from or when they arrived in the Sahara. According to what people say or believe of Berber descent, the language of the Tuareg is Tamachek, with their own script known as Tifinagh, thought to have ancient Libyan roots. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded the Tuareg in the 5th Century BC.

                                                                    Photo courtesy of California Academy of Science