Amenokal is an autochthonous title for the highest Tuareg traditional chiefs.

History

Before the colonization by the French of the North African and Sahel countries they dwell in, the nomadic Tuareg federations elected a chief among the wise men of the tribes to rule the loose union of closely related groups.
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• In present Algeria
  Algeria
  Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
  
  , an amenokal was at the head of the Kel Ahaggar
  Kel Ahaggar
  Kel Ahaggar is a Tuareg confederation in the Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria. The confederation is believed to have been founded by Tin Hinan, with the "official" founding being around 1750...
  
   Tuareg confederation since its establishment (circa 1750), maintained under colonial French suzerainty since 1903, no longer regognized after the Algerian independence, finally abolished in 1977

• In the northern mountains of present Niger
  Niger
  Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
  
  , around 1405 (all chronology is uncertain in this context) a state called Aïr was founded by the Tuareg confederation there, under an amenokal who was also designated by the Arabic Muslim title Sultan
  Sultan
  Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
  
  , hence it is also called a Berber sultanate.

The first Tuareg chief, according to a tradition, was a woman, Tin Hinan

Tin Hinan

Tin Hinan is the name given by the Tuareg to a 4th-century woman of prestige whose monumental tomb is located in the Sahara at Abalessa in the Ahaggar or Hoggar region of Algeria...

, the founder of the Ahaggar community.

Sources and references

(incomplete)

• WorldStatesmen article on Niger