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{{short description|Tuareg confederation}}
[[File:Niqab on Tuareg.jpg|thumb|right|French view of a Tuareg man from Timbuktu, c.1890s.]]
The '''Iwellemmedan''' (''Iwəlləmədǎn''), also spelled '''Iullemmeden''', '''Aulliminden''', '''Ouilliminden''', '''Lullemmeden''', and '''Iwellemmeden''', are one of the seven major [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] tribal or clan confederations (called "''Drum groups''"). Their communities are historically nomadic and intermixed with other ethnic groups. The Iwellemmeden inhabit a wide area ranging from east and north central Mali, through the [[Azawagh]] valley, into northwestern [[Niger]] and south into northern [[Nigeria]]. While once a single confederation of dozens of Tuareg clans, subject peoples, and allied groups, since the 18th century they have been divided into '''[[Kel Ataram]]''' (west) and '''[[Kel Dinnik]]''' (east) confederations.

Following colonial rule and independence, the Iwellemmedan homelands cross the Mali/Niger border, and their traditional seasonal migration routes have spread Iwellemmedan communities into [[Burkina Faso]] and [[Nigeria]] as well.<ref name="ClaudotHawad2003">Hélène Claudot-Hawad. [http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/38/05/23/PDF/2003-IWELLEMEDEN.pdf Iwellemmeden Kel Ataram (Touaregs)] in Encyclopédie Berbère XXV (2003) article 176b : 3822-3828.</ref> They speak the [[Tawellemmet language|Tawellemmet]] variant of the [[Tamasheq language|Tamasheq]] language,<ref name="Ilahiane2006">Hsain Ilahiane. Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen). Volume 5 of Historical dictionaries of people and cultures. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-5452-9}}. pp.11, 45.</ref> although some current or historical sub-clans speak other Tamasheq variants as well as Songhai languages and [[Arabic]] dialects.<ref name="ClaudotHawad2003" />

==Divisions==
[[File:Tuareg area.png|300px|right|thumb|Areas where significant numbers of Tuaregs live]]
The origins of the division into '''Kel Ataram''' ("people of the west") and '''Kel Dinnik''' ("people of the east") goes back to at least 1800, and perhaps a century earlier.<ref name=ClaudotHawad2003 /> The confederation remained divided under colonial rule, with the Nigerien arm to the east given its own official "chief", while after 1916, the western arm was re-divided among a number of official French chosen chieftainships. The division of eastern and western Iwellemmedan remains in the post-colonial period.

The western arm of the Iwellemmedan is the '''Kel Ataram''' centered on the Malian town of [[Ménaka]]. Component "free" clans (mostly "maraboutic" or "Imajeghen" tribes which inherit local religious leadership) include the [[Tahabanaten]] and [[Ighatafan]].<ref name="Giuffrida2005">Alessandra Giuffrida. "Clerics, Rebels and Refugees: Mobility Strategies and Networks among the Kel Antessar", ''Journal of North African Studies''. Volume 10, Number 3, September 2005.</ref>

The major eastern arm of the confederation is the '''Kel Dinnik''' (var. '''Kel Dinnig'''), sometimes named the "Ouilliminden Kel Dinnik", and centered in the [[Azawagh]], near [[Tchintabaraden|Tchin-Tabaraden]] and [[Tahoua]].<ref name="Decalo1997">{{Cite book
|last=Decalo
|first=Samuel
|title=Historical Dictionary of the Niger (3rd ed.)
|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Boston & Folkestone
|year=1997
|isbn=0-8108-3136-8
}} p. 184</ref> Their major "free"/"Imajeghen" components include the [[Irreulen]], [[Lisawan]], [[Tiggirmat]], [[Tellemidez]], and [[Ikhekheren]]. The free/noble [[Kel Nan]] clan is the traditional source of the [[Amenukal|Amenokal]], the paramount confederation leader chosen by clan heads.<ref>Kélétigui Abdourahmane Mariko. Les Touaregs Ouelleminden. Karthala, Paris, 1984.</ref>

Both groups are traditionally pastoralists, whose migration patterns take them north into the [[Sahara]] during the brief rainy season, and south as far as Nigeria and Burkina Faso during the dry season.

Like all Tuareg groups, they are formed from a number of highly stratified castes, who interweave loyalty from a number of clans, some of whom are limited to specific castes. Ruling caste clans lead the large confederations, and engage in seasonal migration, herding, trade, war, and religious duties.<ref name="Decalo1997" /> Lower castes, and clans made up of subject groups of free clans are more likely sedentary and not part of confederations, even if their traditional suzerains are members of a confederation such as the Iwellemmedan. In addition, large confederations may include allied non-Tuaregs, such as local Arabic speaking tribes.<ref name="Giuffrida2005" />

==History==
Tuareg groups moved south into what is now [[Mali]] and [[Niger]] sometime around the 11th century CE, and the Iwellemmedan were established south and east of the [[Adrar des Ifoghas|Adrar Ifoghas]] by the 17th century CE.<ref name="Ilahiane2006" /> Contesting oral histories agree that the Iwellemmedan came into conflict with the Kel Taddemekat confederation, but disagree whether the Iwellemmedan were pushed out of the Adrar Ifoghas by their foes or conquered Kel Taddemekat territory south and west of the massif. Regardless, by the mid-15th century CE, the Iwellemmedan controlled an area from [[Lake Faguibine]] and north of [[Timbuktu]] east through all of what is now the [[Gao Region]] of Mali, into the Nigerien [[Azawagh]] all the way to the edge of the [[Aïr Mountains|Aïr Massif]].<ref name=ClaudotHawad2003 />

Engaged in long struggle with the inheritors of the 15th century CE Moroccan conquest of the [[Songhai Empire]], the Iwellemmedan Kel Ataram clans eventually imposed indirect rule over Timbuktu, along with all of the Niger River valley from the [[Inner Niger Delta|Niger inland delta]] to what into the town of [[Say, Niger]]. The Kel Ataram were only driven from Timbuktu in 1826 by the rise of the [[Fula people|Fula]] [[Massina Empire|Macina Empire]], but retained much of the area to its north.<ref name=ClaudotHawad2003 />

At the moment of colonial expansion by the French into their territory at the end of the 19th century, the Iwellemmedan were the dominant Tuareg confederation in all western Niger and eastern Mali, down to the bend of the [[Niger River]], where they held sway of many of the Songhay settlements. Following their defeat by the French after their seizure of Timbuktu in 1894, the Kel Ataram Amenokal pledged non-aggression with the French in 1896, and eventual peace in 1903. At this same time, the French concentrated on their conflict with the Kel Ifoghas to the north. Within a decade, roles were reversed, when the Ifoghas helped to put down the 1914–1916 rising of the Iwellemmedan and allied clans under their [[Amenukal|Amenokal]] Fihirun.<ref name=ClaudotHawad2003 /> Their resistance to French conquest cost them dearly, with the deaths of much of their warrior class, and the eventual favoriting of the [[Kidal]] based [[Kel Adagh|Kel Ifoghas]] by the colonial power. Several elements were eventually broken from the Iwellemmedan Kel Ataram by the French, further weakening the confederation.<ref name="Ilahiane2006" /><ref name="Decalo1997" />

The eastern Iwellemmedan Tuaregs' traditional [[homeland]] is in Niger. However, severe droughts in 1972 and 1982 forced the [[nomad]]ic Iwellemmedan to [[human migration|migrate]] south to Nigeria in search of [[grazing]] areas for their animal herds. Many Aulliminden eventually moved closer to populated areas. These Tuaregs settled in the outskirts of cities in northern Nigeria, and many never returned to their homeland.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://kcm.co.kr/bethany_eng/p_code3/1642.html |title=The Tuareg of Nigeria |publisher=Bethany World Prayer Center |access-date=2008-04-12 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928080210/http://kcm.co.kr/bethany_eng/p_code3/1642.html |archive-date = 2007-09-28}}</ref>

In the 1970s, large numbers of Tuareg refugees, many of them Iwellemmedan, settled in the refugee camps of southern Niger, most prominently [[Lazert]], on the northeastern edge of [[Niamey]]. Over time this has become a permanent neighborhood within the [[Demographics of Niger|Nigerien]] capital.<ref name="Decalo1997" />

==See also==
*[[Tuareg people|Tuareg]]
**[[Kel Adagh]]
**[[Kel Ahaggar]]
**[[Kel Ajjer]]
**[[Kel Ayr]]
**[[Kel Gres]]
**[[Kel Owey]]
*[[History of Niger]]
*[[History of Mali]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

<br>
{{Ethnic groups in Burkina Faso}}
{{Ethnic groups in Mali}}
{{Ethnic groups in Niger}}
{{Ethnic groups in Nigeria}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwellemmedan People}}
[[Category:Berbers in Mali]]
[[Category:Berbers in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Berbers in Burkina Faso]]
[[Category:Berbers in Niger]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Mali]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Burkina Faso]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Niger]]
[[Category:Tuareg confederations]]

Iwellemmedan people - Revision history

imported>Iskandar990 at 19:57, 2 April 2025