A largely nomadic group populating the remote regions of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria and northern Niger, Mali, Mauretania, Chad, and Senegal. The Tuareg are thought to have been Berber in origin, but have had contact and interbreeding with neighboring populations for centuries, making them rather ethnically and racially ambiguous. Their characteristic economic activity is running trans-Sahara trade caravans of camels, as it has been for centuries, although many live in settled communities. Religiously, they are nominally adherents of Islam, although the degree to which they incorporate orthodox practices in their remote homeland varies. In a twist, it is not traditional in Tuareg society for women to wear a veil, but in some traditional communities, men wear an indigo cloth wrap similar to a veil that only reveals their eyes.
Some Tuareg groups are one of the only societies remaining in in the world to practice slavery. The lawlessness, vastness, and emptiness of their desert homeland makes the continuation of this ages old practice possible, as does the less than stable governmental situation in Algeria. The Tuareg are known to keep as their slaves the more negroid appearing populations of neighboring southern regions. This has been seen as an example of 'white on black' slavery, but due to the afore mentioned ethnically ambiguous nature of the Tuareg, it is likely not so clear cut. It seems slaves have been assimilated into Tuareg society over the years, however, the form of slavery practiced can supposedly be rather brutal.
Some who have studied the Tuareg claim that some or much of what appears as slavery is actually more of a rigid caste system, with the lower castes descended from slaves.