1.3 Historical background 5rainfall) but could not support permanent settlements. During the most recent
few centuries, the only Saharan zones relevant to the Tuareg that could support
continuous settlement were those in the moutainous areas: the Hoggar in
southern Algeria, the Adrar des Ifoghas in far northern Mali, and the Air of
Niger. These hills provide water (mountain springs, rainwater ponds in rocky
depressions, wells) and defensive positions. The three hilly zones have been
the major demographic concentrations of Tuareg north of the Niger River.
An important factor in the southward movement was the arrival of Arabs
in North Africa. This began with the first Arab invasions of the end of the 6th
century, but (from the Tuareg perspective) the main blow was the arrival of
Arab beduin (the Bani Hilal and related tribal groups) in the 11th century and
their spread over the next two centuries through much of non-maritime Libya,
Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco and into Mauritania, the Western Sahara, and
northwestern Mali. Although some Tuareg were already present in the Hoggar,
the Air, the Adrar des Ifoghas, and points south (perhaps already including
Timbuktu), demographic pressures from the 11th to 13th centuries, resulting
from the Hilalian invasion, pushed more Tuareg south into something like their
present range in Mali and the Republic of Niger.
The Central Sahara (including the three mountainous zones mentioned)
has been a particularly difficult place to live in during the last millennium.
Desertification has been continuous, but has accelerated since 1970 (a
devastating drought in 1972, smaller droughts off and on from then until 1985,
overgrazing of grasslands, deforestation due to excessive cutting of firewood).
Those Tuareg who did not live near the Niger River lost most if not all of their
animals, and thousands of them died of hunger and thirst.
For much of the last millennium, climatic changes have been exacerbated
by the rise of a highly elaborated culture of raiding (razzia). The Tuareg
warrior clans, like the Arab reguibats farther west (high desert around the
Mauritanian-Malian border area), terrorized both settled villages and the trans-
Saharan caravan trade. They have been a major cause of economic
backwardness, and of the rarity of stable political structures, in the Tuareg
dominated areas since the Hilalian invasion. The ferocity of Tuareg warriors
constituted a major obstacle for French colonial penetration, though after
considerable bloodshed the colonial forces did eventually gain a degree of
control (especially in Algeria). In recent decades, Tuaregs were recruited in
large numbers to fight on the Libyan side of the Chad wars of the 1980's, and
against the Russians in Afghanistan. Some veterans of these foreign wars later
participated in banditry, guerilla attacks, or larger-scale rebellions in northern
Mali and Niger. The major event in Mali was the Arab-Tuareg rebellion of
1990-95, where the rebels operated out of bases deep in the Sahara, mounting
guerilla attacks on Songhay villages, on government police, and on army
outposts. There was one one full-scale rebel assault on each of the two major
riverine provincial capitals, Timbuktu and Gao. The rebellion stalled, and the
Songhay population organized a paramilitary defense force (Ganda Koy),
supplementing the regular government army. Ethnic cleansing was carried out