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TUAT

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 353 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TUAT , a See also:

Berber word 1 sometimes applied generally to all the oases in the western See also:part of the Algerian See also:Sahara, i.e. between 2° W. and 2 1° E. 26° and 300 N., sometimes restricted to a particular See also:group which See also:borders the See also:east See also:side of See also:Wad Mzaud between 26*° and 271° N. According to the first usage Tuat includes the oases of Gurara in the See also:north and Tidikelt in the See also:south with the important centre of Insalah. The three See also:groups are spoken of collectively by the See also:French as the Tuat See also:archipelago. The See also:district is comparatively fertile, being formed of See also:recent See also:alluvium extending along the See also:base of the Tademait See also:plateau (Cretaceous), and produces See also:dates and some cereals and vegetables. The See also:wadi Saura (known in its See also:lower course as the Messaud), formed by the junction of the wadis Zusfana and Ghir, marks the north-western boundary of the oases. Af ter the See also:winter rains in the See also:Atlas it carries a consider-able See also:body of See also:water in its upper course, but lower down its channel is choked by See also:sand. See also:Works were undertaken (1909) by the French to keep open the channel as it passes Tuat proper. At Gurara water is obtained from springs brought to the See also:surface by the outcrop of impervious Devonian rocks. There is an extensive sebkha or See also:salt See also:lake at Gurara. The oases support a comparatively large See also:population. The See also:separate ksurs or hamlets, of which the district is said to contain over 300, are in Tuat proper placed See also:close together.

The See also:

political centre of Tuat is the See also:oasis of Timmi, which has some See also:forty ksurs. All the ksurs are strongly fortified, the walls of the citadels being of immense thickness. The whole region has been formed into an administrative unit known as territoire See also:des oasis sahariennes, and comprising a native See also:commune subdivided into the annexes of Tuat, Gurara and Tidikelt. In 1906 the commune had a population of 134 Europeans and 49,8732 natives, of whom 112 enjoyed municipal rights. There were four places with over 2000 inhabitants: See also:Adrar (Timmi), 2686, and Zaniet-Kunta, 3090 , in Tuat; Insalah, 2837, in Tidikelt; and Timimun, 2330, in Gurara. Nine other places had between l000 and 2000 inhabitants. By See also:race (excluding the troops) there were 19,654 See also:Arabs, 5470 See also:Berbers, 4374 negroes, 191 See also:Jews (professing See also:Islam) and 19,412 persons of mixed See also:blood. The district is of importance as commanding the routes southwards to See also:Timbuktu from both See also:Morocco and See also:Algeria, and it is thus a See also:great centre of See also:trade. The oases appear to have been inhabited from a very See also:early See also:period. According to tradition See also:numbers of Jews migrated thither in the and See also:century A.D. They 'were the predominant See also:element in the oases when the conquests of Sidi Okba drove the See also:Zenata south (7th century). These Berbers occupied Tuat and, to a large extent, absorbed the Jewish population.

The Arabs took See also:

possession of the oases in the loth century and imposed Islam upon the See also:people. Thereafter the region was governed by Zenata Berbers or by Arab chieftains. In the 14th 1 The See also:etymology of the word is doubtful; it is used in the sense of an inhabited district—hence an oasis. 2 By a clerical See also:error the native population in the See also:census returns is given as 60,497. century the See also:sultan of Morocco occupied the oases, which remained in political dependence upon Morocco. In the 17th century, how-ever, the See also:sovereignty of the sultan had become almost nominal and this See also:state of quasi-See also:independence continued. The treaty of 1845 between Morocco and See also:France See also:left the question of the possession of Tuat, Gurara and Tidikelt unsettled. After the See also:murder in 1881 of the members of the Flatters See also:mission—a French expedition sent into the Sahara—a measure concerted at Insalah, several of the Tuat headmen sought Moroccan See also:protection, fearing the vengeance of France. A See also:chief calling himself the Moroccan See also:pasha established himself at Timmi, but Morocco took no active step to assert her sovereignty. In 1899 a French scientific mission, under See also:Colonel Flamand, was despatched to the oasis of Tidikelt. The French were attacked by the natives (Dec. 28, 1899), whom they defeated, and the next See also:day Insalah was occupied.

This was the beginning of a serious See also:

campaign in which the French suffered severe losses, but by See also:March 1901 the whole of the fortified places in the three oases had been captured. To cut off the oases from Morocco the See also:town of Igli, 140 M. north-See also:west of Gurara, was also annexed by the French (See also:April 5, 1900). Igli (pop. 1057 in 1go6) occupies an important position, being placed at the junction of the wadi Zusfana and the wadi Ghir. The French were not, however, left in peaceable possession of their newly acquired territory. Attacks by the See also:nomad tribes, Moroccan and others, were made on the See also:line of communications, and during 1903 the French troops suffered serious losses. To punish the tribes the town of Figig was bombarded by the French (See also:June 8, 1903). On the 2nd of See also:September following a See also:band of nomads attacked, at a See also:place called El Mungar, the escort of a See also:convoy going to Taghit. After maintaining the fight 71 See also:hours the French were reinforced and their enemies See also:drew off. Out of 115 combatants the French lost 38 killed and 47 wounded. To consolidate their position the French authorities deter-See also:mined to connect the oases with the Algerian Sahara proper by See also:carriage roads and See also:railways. One road goes north-east to El Golea, 150 M. distant from Insalah; another north from Igli to a See also:post called Beni Ounif, 21 M. south of Figig, to which point the railway from See also:Ain Sefra,' in the Oranese Sahara, was carried ins 1903.

The continuation of this railway to Igli was begun in the following See also:

year. See also:Major A. G. See also:Laing visited the Tuat territory in 1825 on his way to Timbuktu, but his papers were lost. The next See also:European to visit Tuat was See also:Gerhard See also:Rohlfs, who described his explorations and investigations in Tagebuch seiner Reise durch Marokko nach Tuat, 1864 (See also:Gotha, 1865) and Reise durch Marokko . . Exploration der Oasen von Tafilet, Tuat and Tidikelt . . . (See also:Bremen, 1868). A. G. P. See also:Martin's See also:Les Oasis sahariennes (See also:Algiers, 1908) gives an See also:account of the See also:history and economic See also:condition of the oases.

Consult also Commandant E. Laquibre, Les Reconnaissances du See also:

General Scrviere clans les oasis sahariennes (See also:Paris, 1902), a valuable mono-graph by an officer who took part in the operations in 19oo–19oi ; E. F. See also:Gautier, Sahara algerien (Paris, 1908), and various contributions by G. B. M. Flamand in La Geographie and Annales geographiques for 1900. Comptes rendus (1902), See also:Bull. geog. hist. et descriptive (1903), &c. (F. R.

End of Article: TUAT

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