Tinzaouaten is a Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...

n oasis town in the far northeast of Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

, just 4.5 km from the Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n border. A stop on the Trans-Saharan trade

Trans-Saharan trade

Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara to reach sub-Saharan Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the late 16th century.- Increasing desertification and economic incentive :...

 route for at least a thousand years, and garrison town under the French colonial regime, in 1999 Tinzaouaten had a population of 4000, of which 1600 are nomads who only reside there part of the year. The town is divided in to a Tuareg or Berber

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

 quarter, and a quarter inhabited by Malians descended from the Songhai Empire

Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...

 who controlled the town in the 16th century.

Tinzaouaten is a rural commune

Communes of Mali

A Commune is the third level administrative unit in Mali. Mali is divided into eight regions and one capital district . These subdivisions bear the name of their principal city. The regions are divided into 49 Cercles...

 in the VIIIth or Kidal Region

Kidal Region

Kidal is the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering 151,430 km². Its capital is the city of Kidal.-Geography:The region is bordered on the west by Tomboctou Region, to the south by Gao Region, to the east by Niger and to the north by Algeria....

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The town is home to Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, and has been a center point of the Malian fighting in the Tuareg Rebellion (2007–present)

Tuareg Rebellion (2007–present)

The Tuareg Rebellion of 2007-2009 was an insurgency that began in February 2007 amongst elements of the Tuareg people living in the Sahara desert regions of northern Mali and Niger. It is only the most recent of a series of insurgencies by formerly nomadic Tuareg populations, which had last...

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