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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
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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