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202 CHAPTER 5MigrationThe droughts reshaped Tamasheq existence in drastic ways. By force and overnight,Tamasheq life changed from rural and pastoral to urban and wage earning.Among the Western-educated Tamasheq elite, many of whom worked forinternational NGOs active in the drought relief and redevelopment of the Saheleconomy, the drought led to a rethinking of pastoral life. Many young KelTamasheq reached the conclusion that pastoral existence had no future.Pastoralism as we have always practised it is no longer an honourable option in ourdays. For different reasons it is condemned to be abandoned, or at least to be restructured.It is not a goal in itself, and a Tuareg is not in the least predestined to beborn and to die as a pastoralist. 23The Tamasheq-inhabited Sahara and Sahel are characterized by a long historyof urban culture and identity. Some of the oldest cities of sub-SaharanAfrica, such as Gao and Agadez, are part of the Tamasheq world. Ruins ofcities in the Sahara such as Essuq Tademekkat and Tamentit form further evidenceof a long urban tradition of which the Kel Tamasheq form an integralpart. 24 Nomadic existence is deeply connected to urbanity in the Sahara andSahel. As hardly anything is produced in the nomad economy outside the pastoraldomain, the nomad is depending on city markets to procure most necessities.The Kel Tamasheq dominated the caravan trade connecting the cities, andeven the village markets of the Sahel and Sahara. Kel Ewey, Kel Ferwan, AhlAraouane and other caravan drivers and merchants have dwelt in Timbuktu,Taoudennit, In Salah, Agadez, Bilma, Teguida n Tesimt, Kano, Ghat, Murzukand Tripoli for centuries. In fact, caravan trade is about the connection of urbancentres. Caravans traverse the desert in order to arrive at cities. It is a part ofSaharan city culture par excellence. The historicity of Kel Tamasheq city dwellingis documented to at least the 10 th century AD. 25 Even seemingly colonialcities have deeper histories. The city of Kidal is often thought of as founded bythe French, where it in fact was founded by the Dabakar, a tribe that has sincemoved, but who used the oasis as a date grove, and had small allotments oftobacco and peppers there, besides stone houses which might date back to thesame era as Essuq Tademekkat. Tessalit too is a village with a considerable dategrove of around 6,000 trees founded prior to colonial conquest. 26 The historicallink between Kel Tamasheq and city life becomes even more evident in thename Kel Essuq, referring to a group of not necessarily related tribes that derive23242526Anonymous, Quand le chef travaille, le peuple le suit (n.d. 1990). Document circulatingin Niamey in 1990 among Kel Tamasheq intellectuals.Hunwick, J. 2003; Moraes Farias, de, P.F. 2003.Ibn Hauqal 1964.Cauvin, C. & M. Cortier 1908.