Kel Tamasheq ⴾⵍⵜⵎⴰⵣⵗⵜ طوارق | |
---|---|
Total population | |
c. 3 million | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Niger | 2,116,988 (8.7% of its total population)[1] |
Mali | 536,557 (2.6% of its total population)[2] |
Burkina Faso | 370,738 (1.85% of its total population)[3] |
Algeria | 25,000–150,000 (0.36% of its total population) |
Tunisia | 2,000 (nomadic, 0.018% of its total population) |
Languages | |
Tuareg languages (Tafaghist, Tamahaq, Tamasheq, Tamajeq, Tawellemmet), Maghrebi Arabic, French, Hassaniya Arabic | |
Religion | |
Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Berbers, Hausa people |
The Tuareg (Arabic: طوارق, sometimes spelled Touareg in French, or Twareg in English) are a Berber ethnic group. The Tuareg today lives mostly in West Africa, but they were once nomads that moved throughout the Sahara. They used their own writing known as the tifinaɤ.
Today most Tuaregs are Muslim. Their most important leader was a woman. Tuareg men use veils, but not women. Their families are matrilinear.