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The Azawagh (alias Azaouagh or Azawak) is a dry structural basin covering what is today the northwestern Niger, as well as parts of northeastern Mali and southern Algeria.Paris (1995): p. 250. The Azawagh is mainly made up of and flatlands and has a population that is predominantly Tuareg people, with some Arabic-speaking and Wodaabe minorities and a recent influx of Hausa people and Zarma people.
In ecological terms, the Azawagh basin is divided into, from north to south, a Saharian, a Sahelian and a northern Sudanese (referring to the geographic region) zone.
In Niger, Azawagh generally includes the towns of Abalak (Abalak), In Tibaraden (Tchintabaraden), Tiliya, In-Gall and Tabalaq, a village where the sole lake of the region is located.
Evidence of copper-working has been found at Tekebrine dating to 1600 BCE. At around this time, climatic conditions worsened, and the Sudanese peoples of the region were replaced by Berbers who constructed Tumulus.
Islam reached the Western Aïr Mountains via southwest Libya in the eighth century.Paris (1995), p. 238. The region was invaded and colonized by the French in the early twentieth century.Popenoe (2003), p. 15. Following the independence movements of Algerian War, Mali, and the Niger, and the corresponding departure of the French, the region became divided between these three nations.
During the 1970s and 1980s, a series of droughts forced increasing numbers of the region's nomadic population into villages and towns.Popenoe (2003), p. 17. The droughts also sparked a rebellion by the region's Tuareg population, with groups such as Front for the Liberation of Aïr and Azaouak and the Front for the Liberation of Tamoust rebelling against the Nigerien government, while the Arab Islamic Front of Azawad, Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, Revolutionary Liberation Army of Azawad, and the Popular Liberation Front of Azawad opposed the government of Mali.
The area is dominated by the Tuareg people peoples, as well as some nomadic Arab-ancestry tribes including Hassaniya Arabic-speakers (also called Azawagh Arabs, not to be confused with Niger's Diffa Arabs).Popenoe (2003), p. 16-17. The Azawagh is the center for the Iwellemeden Kel Denneg Federation.
The region also has a nomadic population of Wodaabe Fula people and a substantial minority of Ikelan, formerly a Tuareg slave caste. In recent years, a number of Hausa people and Zarma people have settled in the region, primarily as government officials and traders.
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