The
Kel Awey (var.
Kel Owi,
Kel Ewey form
People of the Bull) are a
Tuareg people clan confederation. From the 18th century until the advent of French colonial rule at the beginning of the 20th century, they were a dominant power in the Aïr Mountains of north central
Niger.
History
The Kel Awey have, like many Tuareg confederations, been both a sub-group of other confederations and the dominant power over other clans. In 1740 the Kel Awey moved south from modern Algeria and destroyed the town of Assodé, sacked
Agadez, placed the Sultanate of Agadez under their control, and dispersed the
Kel Ayr to the south and west. The confederation was then under the direct
suzerainty of the
Anastafidet, lord of the Kel Awey.
Heinrich Barth passed through the Aouderas valley with a Kel Awey trans-Saharan caravan in 1850, and reported that it was only recently that the Kel Awey
[Bernus (1972) says that, specifically, it was the Kel Negru sub-clan of the Kel Awey. Edouard Bernus. "Les palmeraies de l'Aïr", Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Méditerranée, 11, (1972) pp.37-50.] had pushed the
Kel Gres and
Kel Itesen Tuareg south and west out of the valley. When the French appeared in force in the 1890s, they found the nomadic the Kel Awey confederation allied now to a confederation led by the Kel Ayr, but remaining the dominant power from the Aïr Mountains south to
Damergu just north of
Zinder.
[William B. Cohen. "Review of: Des Colonisateurs Sans Enthousiasme. Les Premières Années Françaises au Damergou by Yehoshua Rash". The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 8, Supplements A & B (1975), pp. 101-102]
Central Saharan trade
Throughout the 19th century the Kel Awey controlled the central of three main trade routes from the West African
Sahel to the Mediterranean. Kel Awey caravans carried hides, gold, ostrich feathers and slaves north from the borders of the
Sokoto Caliphate, beginning in Kano,
Zinder,
Agadez, the Air, to
Ghat and
Ghadames.
[Lovejoy (1983) pp. 217-220] The Kel Awey also for some time controlled the Agadez centered trade in salt and dates, called the
Azalai. This trade was supplemented by grain grown in the fertile Air by bonded servile Tuareg classes, conquered communities, and slaves working plantation estates witnessed by Barth. Barth stayed at a series of estates held by the family of Annur, a high ranking Kel Awey noble, as well as those held by the Anastafidet himself, commenting on their extensive size, geographic spread, and the relative lack of restrictions on the labourers who were, technically, often first generation slaves. Barth reports in the Air seeing the southernmost use of plow agriculture, and detailing Kel Owey plantations, trade villages, and weigh stations deep in the territory of their southern neighbors at
Tessawa and
Damagaram, and mixed into the territory controlled by the
Imazureg Tuareg around Gangara.
[Lovejoy (1983) p.219] From the date plantations and salt basins of the
Kaouar, huge caravans transported good south to Zinder and Kano.
20th century
After participating in a number of rebellions against French rule and being particularly hard hit by a series of famines in the second decade of the 1900s, their noble and warrior clans were almost destroyed, and some others of their constituent elements have been largely subsumed by other Toureg "Kel"s. The Kel Awey remain powerful in the central Aïr Massif, especially in the
Bagzane plateau.
[For modern study of one aspect of Kel Awey life in the Bagzane, see: Susan J. Rasmussen. Spirit Possession and Personhood Among the Kel Ewey Tuareg. Cambridge University Press (2006). ]
See also
-
Samuel Decalo. Historical Dictionary of Niger. Scarecrow Press, London and New Jersey (1979).
-
Jolijn Geels. Niger. Bradt London and Globe Pequot New York (2006). .
-
Paul E. Lovejoy. Transformations in Slavery - A History of Slavery in Africa. African Studies series No 36. Cambridge University Press (1983)
-
French Language Wikipedia entry.
Also consult
-
GAGNOL L., MOREL A., 2003. "Les Touaregs Kel Owey du massif de l’Aïr (Niger) : peut-on parler d’une identité montagnarde ?" Actes du colloque "Identié(s)", Poitiers, MSHS, pp. 115-126.
-
A. Bourgeot., 1994. "L’agro-pastoralisme des Touaregs Kel Owey (Aïr)". Au contact Sahara-Sahel. Milieux et sociétés du Niger Volume I. pp.137-156.
