Amenokal is an autochthonous title for the highest Tuareg traditional chiefs.
History
Before the colonization by the French of the North African and Sahel countries they dwell in, the nomadic Tuareg federations elected a chief among the wise men of the tribes to rule the loose union of closely related groups.
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In present Algeria, an amenokal was at the head of the Kel Ahaggar Tuareg confederation since its establishment (circa 1750), maintained under colonial French suzerainty since 1903, no longer regognized after the Algerian independence, finally abolished in 1977
In the northern mountains of present Niger, around 1405 (all chronology is uncertain in this context) a state called Aïr was founded by the Tuareg confederation there, under an amenokal who was also designated by the Arabic Muslim title Sultan, hence it is also called a Berber sultanate.
The first Tuareg chief, according to a tradition, was a woman, Tin Hinan, the founder of the Ahaggar community.
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