Tajakant

The Tajakant (also Tadjakant) is a Sahrawi-Moorish tribe of Arab-Berber origins. They speak Hassaniya Arabic. They traditionally lived in south western Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Western Sahara^{[citation needed]}. They are Muslims, belonging to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. Some sources claim they are descendants of the Lamtuna Berber tribe.

The Tajakant were known as traders and warriors, and held a strong position in the trans-Saharan trade between Belad Asudan(Sub-Saharan Africa) and Morocco.^[1] In 1852, Tajakant tribesmen founded a settlement and trading post in the oasis of Tindouf, in what is now Algeria, they were engaged in a lengthy war against the Rguibat and Kunta in the 19^th, their allies in this war were the Senhaja.^[1] This culminated in 1895 where the settlement of Tindouf was attacked and sacked by a raiding party of Reguibat tribesmen. Tindouf was destroyed, and most of the northern Tajakant wiped out; some populations remain in Morocco, Western Sahara and a few in Mauritania, where their members have gained importance as religious scholars.

Today's Tajakant are said to be sedentary, and engaged in small-scale trading and farming they mainly live in Morocco and the Moroccan administered territory of Western Sahara. They are one of the strongest proponents of the Moroccan claims on the territory, this might be due to their historical feud with the Rguibat. A few live in Algeria,^[2] Mauritania and Mali.

References

^ ^a ^b Barth, Heinrich (1859). Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa - Volume 3. Google books. p. 715.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Template:FrAttilio Gaudio, Populations du Sahara occidental : histoire, vie et culture, Karthala éditions, 1993 (ISBN 9782865374113)

References

See also