Toubou people

Toubou
Toubou men in traditional gear
Total population
c. 1,225,933[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Chad1,074,343[1]
 Niger101,590[2]
 Libya50,000[3]–85,000[4]
Languages
Tebu languages (Daza, Teda)[5][6]
Arabic (Chadian Arabic, Libyan Arabic)
Religion
Islam (Sunni)[7]
Related ethnic groups
Kanembu, Kanuri, Zaghawa

The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people"[8]) are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains[9] that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. They live either as herders and nomads or as farmers near oases. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures and wells.[10]

The Toubou are generally divided into two closely related groups: the Teda (or Tuda, Téda, Toda, Tira) and the Daza (or Dazzaga, Dazagara, Dazagada). They are believed to share a common origin and speak the Tebu languages, which are from the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family.[11] Tebu is divided further into two closely related languages, called Tedaga (Téda Toubou) and Dazaga (Daza Toubou). Of the two groups, the Daza, found to the south of the Teda, are more numerous.[12]

The Toubou people are also referred to as the Tabu, Tebu, Tebou, Tibu, 'Tibbu, Toda, Todga, Todaga, Tubu, Tuda, Tudaga, or Gorane people.[6][7] The Daza are sometimes referred to as Gouran (or Gorane, Goran, Gourane), an Arabian exonym.[13] Many of Chad's leaders have been Toubou (Gouran), including presidents Goukouni Oueddei and Hissène Habré.[14]

  1. ^ a b "Chad". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Niger". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Indigenous World 2021: Libya - IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs". iwgia.org. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  4. ^ Shoup, John A. (31 October 2011). Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 284. ISBN 978-1-59884-362-0.
  5. ^ Dazaga: A language of Chad, Ethnologue
  6. ^ a b Tedaga: A language of Chad, Ethnologue
  7. ^ a b Teda people, Encyclopædia Britannica
  8. ^ MacMichael, Harold: A history of the Arabs in the Sudan and some account of the people who preceded them and of the tribes inhabiting Darfur. 1922.
  9. ^ "Important Facts About the Tibesti Mountains". WorldAtlas. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  10. ^ Copson, Raymond W. (1 January 1994). Africa's Wars and Prospects for Peace. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9781563243004.
  11. ^ International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. 1 January 2003. ISBN 9780195139778.
  12. ^ Olson, James Stuart (1996). The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0313279188.
  13. ^ First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. BRILL. 1993. p. 818. ISBN 978-9004097964.
  14. ^ Young, Tom (1 January 2003). Readings in African Politics. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253216465.