Azawagh

The Azawagh, also spelled Azaouagh or Azawak, is a dry basin that covers the northwest of present-day Niger and extends into parts of northeastern Mali and southern Algeria. It is mostly Sahelian and Saharan flatland, and its population is predominantly Tuareg, with Arabic-speaking and Wodaabe minorities and a recent influx of Hausa and Zarma. The basin once carried a northern tributary of the Niger River, running some 1,600 kilometres in prehistoric times before it dried up after the Neolithic Subpluvial, leaving a basin of about 420,000 square kilometres that geologists call the Iullemmeden Basin. It is bordered by the Hoggar Mountains, the Aïr Mountains and the Adrar des Ifoghas. Human occupation dates back to about 4500 BCE, and in modern times the region was divided among Algeria, Mali and Niger.