VIIᵉ siècle – XIIIᵉ siècle
Kaouar oasis chain, southern Libya and northern Niger
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Kawar was a Saharan oasis region and political community situated south of Fezzan on the route toward Kanem. Its settlements supported agriculture, camel breeding, fishing, alum or sodium-sulphate extraction, and the slave trade. The region contained Ibadi Berber, Arab, and Tubu populations, and was later incorporated into the dominion of Kanem or Zaghawa. Its major centres included al-Kasaba, Ankalas, and Talamla, identified tentatively with modern sites.
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Le récit
Kawar formed a chain of oases south of the Tumma Mountains, facilitating communication between Fezzan and Kanem. Its route crossed the desert between Bilma and Dibella and was regarded as one of the finest caravan corridors of the Sahara. The oases had been known for centuries through the trade that moved across this region, and their fortified settlements formed a southern continuation of Fezzan’s commercial world.
Medieval descriptions present Kawar as a collection of inhabited centres rather than a single city. Al-Kasaba was the chief settlement and corresponded to the Khawar mentioned by Ibn Abd al-Hakam. Kasr Umm Isa lay two days south of al-Kasaba, while Ankalas, forty Arab miles farther south, was described as the largest and most commercially important city and as the residence of the local chief. Talamla, in the southern part of Kawar, has been tentatively identified with modern Bilma.
Kawar’s population was mixed. In the late ninth century it included Muslims of varied origins, mostly Berbers, including Ibadi traders from Fezzan, Djabal Nafusa, and Waddan. Tubu communities, described as Teda-Daza, also inhabited the region, while Arab traders and Lamta Berbers formed part of the wider social landscape. The passage suggests that this indigenous population was Muslim and probably Ibadi by the ninth century.
Agriculture and mineral extraction sustained Kawar’s inhabitants. Dates were cultivated, camels were bred for trade, and fish from a nearby lake were caught and salted. The region was especially renowned for kawari alum, extracted from mines around Ankalas and Abzar; a later interpretation identifies this material as sodium sulphate associated with salt production. Kawar also supplied large numbers of enslaved people to markets in Djarma, Zawila, and Waddan, from which they were exported toward the Maghrib, Ifriqiya, and Egypt.
Kawar appears to have been independent in the ninth century before coming under the dominion of the kingdom of Zaghawa or Kanem. By the time of Yaqut, around 1220, that political subordination was presented as the established situation. The region therefore occupied an intermediary position: locally diverse and economically autonomous in earlier centuries, yet increasingly connected to the expanding political sphere of Kanem.
VIIᵉ siècle – XIIIᵉ siècle
Kaouar oasis chain, southern Libya and northern Niger
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Kawar was a Saharan oasis region and political community situated south of Fezzan on the route toward Kanem. Its settlements supported agriculture, camel breeding, fishing, alum or sodium-sulphate extraction, and the slave trade. The region contained Ibadi Berber, Arab, and Tubu populations, and was later incorporated into the dominion of Kanem or Zaghawa. Its major centres included al-Kasaba, Ankalas, and Talamla, identified tentatively with modern sites.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Kawar formed a chain of oases south of the Tumma Mountains, facilitating communication between Fezzan and Kanem. Its route crossed the desert between Bilma and Dibella and was regarded as one of the finest caravan corridors of the Sahara. The oases had been known for centuries through the trade that moved across this region, and their fortified settlements formed a southern continuation of Fezzan’s commercial world.
Medieval descriptions present Kawar as a collection of inhabited centres rather than a single city. Al-Kasaba was the chief settlement and corresponded to the Khawar mentioned by Ibn Abd al-Hakam. Kasr Umm Isa lay two days south of al-Kasaba, while Ankalas, forty Arab miles farther south, was described as the largest and most commercially important city and as the residence of the local chief. Talamla, in the southern part of Kawar, has been tentatively identified with modern Bilma.
Kawar’s population was mixed. In the late ninth century it included Muslims of varied origins, mostly Berbers, including Ibadi traders from Fezzan, Djabal Nafusa, and Waddan. Tubu communities, described as Teda-Daza, also inhabited the region, while Arab traders and Lamta Berbers formed part of the wider social landscape. The passage suggests that this indigenous population was Muslim and probably Ibadi by the ninth century.
Agriculture and mineral extraction sustained Kawar’s inhabitants. Dates were cultivated, camels were bred for trade, and fish from a nearby lake were caught and salted. The region was especially renowned for kawari alum, extracted from mines around Ankalas and Abzar; a later interpretation identifies this material as sodium sulphate associated with salt production. Kawar also supplied large numbers of enslaved people to markets in Djarma, Zawila, and Waddan, from which they were exported toward the Maghrib, Ifriqiya, and Egypt.
Kawar appears to have been independent in the ninth century before coming under the dominion of the kingdom of Zaghawa or Kanem. By the time of Yaqut, around 1220, that political subordination was presented as the established situation. The region therefore occupied an intermediary position: locally diverse and economically autonomous in earlier centuries, yet increasingly connected to the expanding political sphere of Kanem.
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