The Dawsahak people, ''Idaksahak'' (var.: ''Daoussahak'',Edmond Bernus (ed.). Art of being Tuareg: Sahara nomads in a modern world. Indiana University Press (2006) p.291Jeffrey Heath. A grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali), Volume 35 of Mouton grammar library. Walter de Gruyter, (2005) p.9 ''Dahoussahak'',Catherine Taine-Cheikh. es langues parlées au sud Sahara et au nord Sahel http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00456346/ De l'Atlantique à l'Ennedi (Catalogue de l'exposition « Sahara-Sahel »), Centre Culturel Français d'Abidjan (Ed.) (1989) 155-173 ''Dausahaq, Daosahaq, Daoussahaq, Daoussak, Dawsahaq'') are pastoralist
Berbers
Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arab migrations to the Maghreb, Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connec ...
centered on
Ménaka
Ménaka (Berber languages, Berber: ⵎⵏⴾⴰ) is a town and Communes of Mali, urban commune in Ménaka Cercle and Ménaka Region in eastern Mali. It is the seat and the largest town in the ''cercle'' and region. The town is set amidst the rocky ...
and
Inékar
Inékar is a village and ''cercle'' of Ménaka Region in southeastern Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with ...
town in
Ménaka Region
Ménaka ( Bambara: ߡߋߣߊߞߊ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Menaka Dineja) is a region of Mali legislatively created in 2012 from the cercle of the same name previously part of Gao Region. Actual implementation of the region began on 19 January 2016 with t ...
and
Talataye
Talataye is a village and rural commune in the Cercle of Ansongo in the Gao Region of south-eastern Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-l ...
in
Ansongo Cercle
Ansongo Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Gao Region of Mali. The administrative center (''chef-lieu'') is the town of Ansongo. The Niger River passes through the ''cercle'' and plays an important role in transportation and the econo ...
of the
Gao Region
Gao ( Bambara: ߜߊߏ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Gao Dineja) is a region in northeastern Mali. The capital city is Gao.
Geography
The region is bordered to the north by Kidal Region, to the west by Tombouctou Region and Taoudénit Region, to the east b ...
of northeastern
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
Tuareg language
Tuareg (), also known as ''Tamasheq'' (), ''Tamajaq'' or ''Tamahaq'' ( Tifinagh: ), is a group of closely related Berber varieties. They are spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso, with a fe ...
of southern Gao.Michael J Rueck; Niels Christiansen Northern Songhay languages in Mali and Niger, a sociolinguistic survey Summer Institute of Linguistics (1999). ''Daoussahak'' appears to be the most common transliteration of the collective name among French and English academics.
History
The Idaksahak are a former dependent faction of local
Tuareg
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...
Iwellemmeden, formerly serving as ''maraboutic'' (religious experts) and livestock minders for higher caste Tuareg factions. Despite this history, they predated the Tuareg in the region, and even the
Songhay Empire
The Songhai Empire was a state located in the western part of the Sahel during the 15th and 16th centuries. At its peak, it was one of the largest African empires in history. The state is known by its historiographical name, derived from its la ...
, from which they took their language. They are still sometimes referred to as a ''tewsit'' (clan) of the Iwellemmeden Tuareg. The Idaksahak, like the related Igdalan "were among the first Berbers to migrate to sub-Saharan Africa, sometime between the 8th and 9th centuries" and were among the first Muslim groups in the area.
The Daoussahak remained detached from, and sometimes in conflict with,
French colonial rule
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates, and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French colonial empire", that ex ...
as late as the 1950s. They were among the first of the rebels who rose against the Malian government in the 1963-64 rebellion, an insurgency which was met with brutal suppression across the north of the country. Daoussahak men also formed armed groups during the 1990s rebellion. The Popular Liberation Front of Azawad(1991-1993) and the later splinter group the National Liberation Front of Azawad (1993) contained fighters drawn from the Daoussahak, the later being majority Daoussahak.
Daoussahak livestock raiding and conflict with rival
Fula
Fula may refer to:
*Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe)
*Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani)
**The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language
**The Fula variety known as the Pular language
**The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde
*Fula alpha ...
pastoralists and farmers continues today, with occasional armed conflict over land, grazing, water, and animals periodically spilling over into the
Ouallam Department
Ouallam is a Departments of Niger, department of the Tillabéri Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Oullam, which is designated an Urban Commune. The department also includes the Communes of Niger, Rural Communes of Simiri and Tondi ...
of
Niger
Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...
They now include both sedentary pastoralists and town dwellers, as well as seasonally nomadic pastoralists, herding cattle, goats, and camels from Mali through southern
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
and northwest
Niger
Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...
.
Transhumance
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or Nomad, nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and low ...
patterns continue to take them northeast into the area of Niger inhabited by the
Igdalen
The Igdalen (var.: Igdalan, Agdal) are a Berber people inhabiting northwestern Niger and parts of Mali and Algeria.Isawaghan: sedentary Northern Songhay speakers of Ingal Niger. The Idaksahak also have a history of transhumance patterns to the southeast, taking them into what is now the
Ouallam
Ouallam is a town around 90 km north of Niamey in southwestern Niger. It is the capital of Ouallam Department, one of four departments in the Tillabéri Region.
In 2013 it had a population of 68,191.
Culture
Historically centered in the lan ...
area of
Niger
Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...
.
Demography, religion, and society
The Malian population of Idaksahak is estimated at 30,000. Idaksahak share with Tuareg a three part caste system of "free masters" (''i-dáksahak''), "craftspeople" (''ʒeem-án'') and the "captives/slaves" (''ṭaam-én''). One study suggested that of North Songhay speaking communities, the Idaksahak are closest to Tuareg. While culturally similar, Igdalan do not intermarry with Tuareg, while Idaksahak intermarry with both communities. The name ''i-dáksahak'' means "sons of Issac". The Idaksahak are
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, although many maintain pre-Islamic beliefs and practices. In Menaka and Ansongo, the Idaksahak live amongst populations of the Igdalan, the Kel Essouk Tuareg, Ihatan Songhay, and Berberiche Arab factions.
Tuareg
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...
References
*Regula Christiansen-Boll A Grammar of Tadaksahak, a Northern Songhay Language of Mali Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. (31 March 2010).
* Cyffer, Norbert (Ed) (2000). Michael J Rueck; Niels Christiansen. Northern Songhay languages in Mali and Niger, a sociolinguistic survey. in Trends in Nilo-Saharan linguistics: proceedings of the 7th Nilo-Saharan linguistics conference, Vienna, Austria, 2–6 September 1998. Cologne : Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.