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Libya
Tuareg
About 10,000 Tuareg nomads live scattered in the southwest desert,
wandering in the general vicinity of the oasis towns of Ghat and
Ghadamis. They claim close relationship with the much larger Tuareg
population in neighboring Algeria and with other Tuareg elsewhere
in the Sahara. Like other desert nomads, they formerly earned
their livelihood by raiding sedentary settlements, conducting
long-distance trading, and extracting protection fees from caravans
and travelers. The ending of the caravan trade and pacification
of the desert, however, have largely deprived this proud people
of their livelihood and have reduced many to penury.
The Tuareg language, Tamasheq, is a Berber dialect, and the Tuareg
adhere to a form of Sunni Islam that incorporates nonorthodox
magical elements. Men--but not women--wear veils, and the blue
dye used in the veils and clothing of nobles frequently transfers
to the skin, causing the Tuareg to be known as "blue men." Marriage
is monogynous, and Tuareg women enjoy high status; inheritance
is through the female line, and as a general rule only women can
read and write.
Data as of 1987
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