37:
337:, also razed by Kaosen and the French successively. At that time it was the second largest town in the Aïr, after Agadez. While the Kel Owey continued to dominate the town, the sedentary farmers now held and inherited much of the Aouderas gardens, rare in the region. Most non-resident Tuareg land owners in 1946 were women, holding land under what the Tuaregs call a
44:
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Tuareg south and west out of the valley. Some Itesen landowners, though, remained
Aouderas as late as 1970. While the Kel Owey pastoralised in the region, visiting towns and their plantations irregularly, Aouderas developed a small but unusual sedentary population of Tuareg cultivators. Barth also
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While the early history of the Aïr Massif is speculative, the area has been populated since at least 10,000 years ago, when the surrounding deserts were lush grasslands. When the Tuareg tribes were pushed south by Arab invaders in the eighth and ninth centuries CE, there were
Gobirwa Hausa in the
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plantations fed by the oasis held by the noble clans. Situated on a plateau surrounded by mountains, Aouderas expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1970s, French geographers estimated there were 15000 date palms in
Aouderas, more than the other older date plantations in
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From one of the largest oases in the area, Aouderas was abandoned in 1917–18. A violent 1875 flood destroyed most of the date plantation, and the emergence of the French weakened Kel Owey defences. From the 1880s, Toubu raids increased, and when the Tuareg
280:'s visit in 1850, and the number of hectares under cultivation has expanded from 19.5 in 1946 to 59.3. As the area of cultivation expanded, so too has the diversity, as Aouderas's existence as a servile date plantation for Tuareg caravans has declined.
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essentially precluded any 2007 tourist season, while roads have been mined, and locals fear attacks by both the rebels and the army. The entire area saw brutal army reprisals in the early 1990s during the last Tuareg insurgence which ended in 1995.
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agriculture, though he witnessed the local servile population pulling the plows in place of farm animals. Despite dire social conditions for the sedentary population and frequent raids from rival Tels and
223:, while the sandy bottom land to the west of the town can be thick with palms and is suitable for irrigated agriculture. Outside of that, the land is almost completely barren except for seasonal grasses.
651:
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Today, with caravan trade dwindled, date crops are supplemented with market gardens, citrus, and increasingly the tourist trade centred in Agadez. A rough
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of the 1990s saw brutal government reprisals which depopulated many villages in the Aïr. Finally, in 2004, a locust invasion ravaged the
Aouderas gardens.
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rose against the French in 1917, Aouderas was one of the towns he destroyed on his way to the siege of Agadez. When the French retook Agadez, a brutal
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at the end of the 19th. Barth passed through the
Aouderas valley in 1850, and reported that it was only recently that the Kel Owey had pushed the
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On 7 September 2007, a small
Nigerien military garrison at Aouderas was attacked by Tuareg-led MNJ rebels, taking six soldiers captive.
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s have controlled the area since at least the twelfth century. Agadez, as well as Ingall to the east, were the farthest outposts of the
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Mortimore (1972) points out that while Tibia farmers held their own land, they were descendants of Tuareg freemen, not slaves
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380:(dirt road) links the town with Agadez, and the larger Tuareg settlement (and tourist destination) in the north of the Aïr,
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in the early 1st century. During the sixteenth century, the area fell under the control of the newly established Tuareg
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349:, system. As the gardens prospered, more towns were formed to the west by Aouderas residents, the largest being
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By 1924, though, Aouderas was resettled, both with the remains of the local Ikelan, but also with refugees from
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and other southern peoples. These peoples were settled in
Aouderas, as in other northern oases, to tend the
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Michael J. Mortimore. The
Changing Resources of Sedentary Communities in Aïr, Southern Sahara, in
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Aouderas village is in the top of the
Aouderas valley, at the base of 1,408-metre (4,619 ft)
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term for a seasonal wash. The washed soil sprouts grasses in the brief rainy season, some small
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and is just south of the Todgha range, which runs east to the 2,022-metre (6,634 ft)
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Bernus (1972) says that, specifically, it was the Kel Negru sub-clan of the Kel Owey.
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community, the small sedentary population is today made up of several hundred mostly
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388:, a larger oasis in the north. Other nearby oasis towns include the more visited
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pastoralists, the sedentary Ikelan had built a large fertile island in the Aïr.
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Economy and society of
Aouderas, a community of the Saharan Aïr Massif (Niger)
197:), and the Assada plateau further north. Aouderas valley is locally called a
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The famines of the 1970s and 80s brought an end to this expansion, and as
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Frederick Brusberg. Production and Exchange in the Saharan Aïr, in
615:, Doctoral thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, McGill University (1988)
530:. Travel itinerary through the Aïr via Aouderas, including photos
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177:. It is also the name of the valley in which the town is located.
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March 2006, pictures from tourist trek, passing through Aouderas.
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Field research on the economics of the Aouderas valley, 1984.
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to the north. As of 1972, the number of farms expanded since
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Detailed report on literacy training classes in Aouderas
169:, about 90 km (56 mi) north-northeast of the
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described this valley as the southernmost instance of
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99:
23:
596:Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Méditerranée
488:. Bradt London and Globe Pequot, New York (2006).
429:Index Mundi/US National Imagery and Mapping Agency
268:, but half the number of the newer plantations at
580:, Vol. 26, No. 3. (Jun. 1985), pp. 394–395.
554:Niger rebels kidnap six soldiers in desert raid
536:Agadez to Timia itinerary with photos and maps.
590:, Vol. 62, No. 1. (Jan. 1972), pp. 71–91.
193:(the highest point in Niger, part of the high
8:
637:Children at play in an Aouderas street scene
594:Edouard Bernus. "Les palmeraies de l'Aïr",
528:VTT.org, Randonnée dans le Sahara du Niger
384:, and is on the main route from Agadez to
296:. It remained so until the arrival of the
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656:Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
330:through the Aïr left Aouderas abandoned.
626:Tourist photo of Aouderas, October, 2005
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466:Mortimore (1972), pp. 81, 83, 85, 89.
251:), former slaves and captives of the
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400:on the road to Agadez to the south.
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642:Traditional dancers from Aouderas
441:"Peakbagger, Mont Bagzane, Niger"
284:southern Aïr. Successive Tuareg
566:Tuareg rebels seize Niger troops
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396:, 40 km to the north, and
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18:Place in Agadez Region, Niger
648:in Iferouane, December 2005.
364:grew, Aouderas shrunk. The
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410:The 2007 Tuareg insurgency
392:, 20 km to the west,
672:Populated places in Niger
556:Reuters: 7 September 2007
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598:, 11, (1972) pp. 37–50
541:6 December 2006 at the
128:Tchirozerine Department
404:Tuareg Rebellion, 2007
227:Population and history
143:
568:BBC: 7 September 2007
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611:Frederick Brusberg.
578:Current Anthropology
139:Map of the southern
588:Geographical Review
457:BERNUS, 1972. p. 38
328:punitive expedition
294:Sultanate of Agadez
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324:Kaosen Ag Mohammed
221:Calotropis procera
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646:festival de l'Aïr
213:Hyphaene thebaica
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56:Location in Niger
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372:Tourist industry
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165:of northeastern
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84:17.617°N 8.417°E
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445:Peakbagger.com
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290:Songhai Empire
278:Heinrich Barth
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195:Bagzane Massif
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677:Agadez Region
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89:17.617; 8.417
65:Coordinates:
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255:Tuareg from
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533:(in French)
525:(in French)
347:matrilineal
243:in Hausa /
187:Mount Todra
173:capital of
87: /
666:Categories
417:References
394:Tammazaret
306:Kel Itesen
123:Department
654:from the
382:Iferouane
302:Kel Geres
261:date palm
209:Dun palms
181:Geography
539:Archived
253:Kel Owey
171:regional
157:) is an
151:Adharous
147:Aouderas
50:Aouderas
25:Aouderas
398:Dabbaga
335:Iferwan
266:In Gall
249:Songhai
155:Auderas
100:Country
72:17°37′N
492:
390:Elmeki
358:Agadez
351:Tegmak
341:khabus
298:French
241:Bouzou
237:Ikelan
233:Tuareg
217:Acacia
175:Agadez
149:(alt:
111:Region
75:8°25′E
486:Niger
386:Timia
378:piste
362:Arlit
316:Toubu
274:Timia
270:Telwa
257:Hausa
245:Bella
205:Hausa
200:kouri
167:Niger
159:oasis
104:Niger
522:see:
490:ISBN
360:and
311:plow
304:and
272:and
239:(or
219:and
203:, a
286:Tel
247:in
215:),
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353:.
345:,
231:A
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211:(
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