LET´S TAKE A LOOK AT OLD PRE-COLONIAL & COLONIAL MAPS OF AZAWAD!
On the social medias you will see that many pro-junta Malians denies that Azawad even exist, they say “Azawad only exist on the social media”. That is just propaganda or denial or ignorance, about the historical facts and geography of Azawad.
Azawad exist, it just has not yet got back its rightful independence. They just don`t want Azawad to exist, because it does not suit their agenda which is genocide on the Azawadian population, because they want their land, but not the part of the population who still resist the oppression refusing to deny their identity, their unique culture, and their rights.
It has been explained in many articles in different places how France force-annexed Azawad to their invented state Mali in the year 1960 by drawing artificial borders, without regard to the people who lived there, without asking them, and thus divided people, families and tribes – on their own ancestral land.
And how the Azawadian leaders of the time demanded France to not attach their land to Mali. And this fact was also a part of an official statement by the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, which shed light to the fact that it is the result of colonial injustice. And of course Russia talked in their own interests, but in any case, the border error was at least officially mentioned. Proving that the international community knows. While the pro-junta Malians pretend it doesn`t exist.
So we will share a few (in fact – there are hundreds of these old maps in existence, as well as mentioning of Azawad in old historical books) of the old pre-colonial and colonial maps of Azawad that exist, and which proves without any doubt that Azawad is real, and that it existed long before Mali was made by France, and that it belongs to the Azawadian people. The dates of the maps shared here range from the sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century.
Added to that, the Tifinagh writings on the rocks is as we all know, another silent witness of the prescence of the ancestors of the Tuaregs, thousands of years old, and which the desert blues bands Tinariwen and Tamikrest also sing about in their respective songs called “Azawad“.
To quote a statement:
“This land belongs to our ancestors, the Berbers [Albarbar, a name borrowed from Arabic writings]. Before the arrival of Islam, it was a unified country, stretching from western Egypt to the sea of present-day Mauritania, and from the central sea to the Gao River. All this land belonged to the Imushagh…
The people of this land lived by herding livestock, hunting, caravans, and oasis agriculture. This is how we, the Kel Tamashaq, describe it in our scientific books. If you want to know the truth or the lies about a country’s history, go and see its remains…
We who live in and know this land have never seen traces of a past life that is not that of the Kel Tamashaq: Tifinagh script, horsemen, camel drivers, battle scenes with warriors holding spears, swords, and shields [these are rock paintings]. We have never seen any representation with the bow, a weapon of the south, nor any vestige that recalls scenes of Black life… Neither the Arabs nor the French (ikufar: “infidels”), neither of them appears in these vestiges.
They left no ancient trace like ours did. Even the few rare Arabic scripts you will find around Essuk or the ancient cities are late, dating from the arrival of Islam, in the time of Koseylata. But as soon as you move away from these Islamized cities, there is no longer any trace of Arabic or Islam.
On every rock in this desert, you will see only the Tifinagh script, which marks the milestones of the history of the Kel Tamashaq” (Bey, Kel Essuk, 1985).
On these maps from the 1600s to the early 1900s, the name Azawad appears (with various spellings), but the name Mali does not. The name Macina is also on the maps before 1960.
After 1960, the name Azawad was removed and replaced with the name Mali due to the Malian illegal occupation. These are just a few of the older maps that have been documented; there are hundreds. The name Mali is nowhere to be seen before 1960. Khamidoune Ag Toumast also wrote an article about this.
Theres no doubt that the struggle for Azawad` s independence is legitimate and a just cause. It´s not “terrorism” like what the failing Malian authorities has tried to make the world believe since 1963. Using that term as an excuse to perform this ongoing genocide on the Azawadian population, is part of the grave violations of human rights that they perform daily.
The name Azawad is mentioned in the oldest maps and numerous historical sources in various languages since the medieval era. It’s worth noting that those maps mention “Land of the Tuareg” and Macina and Azawad and mention Bambara but do not mention “Mali”, because the current Malian state is a recent political construct of the 20th century, resulting from colonial divisions, without conforming to past geographical or human realities.
Take a close look at this map from 1873, you can see that “Bambara” is written and their land ends at Segou. After that it’s Massina. On top of Massina it’s written Azawad, and “Tuareg”.
Maps 1584:
Maps 1600:
Map 1602:
Map from early 1880s:
Map 1854:
Map 1861:
Maps 1876:
Maps 1879-1880:
Map 1899:
Maps 1914:
Maps 1928:
There are hundreds of these old maps with the name of the land Azawad on them, we might update this map collection when we get more maps scanned.
We share this in the interest of the history of Azawad, which actually has a very old history. The proof that these people lived there and that the Azawad land belongs to them are countless.
History cannot be erased. Ask the Tifinagh.
PRE-COLONIAL & COLONIAL MAPS OF AZAWAD PART 2
This is the second article about the existence of Azawad, showing its existence written in a few of hundreds of old pre-colonial and colonial maps of Azawad that exist today in various international libraries in many parts of the world.
The first five maps very clearly shows where the land of the Tuareg, used to be before the colonization, and the following unjust and erroneous drawing of artificial borders by people who didn´t even live there. Totally ignoring the peoples that did and still do live there under tremendous sufferings due to terrible marginalization and oppression to the point of systematic genocide, and these post-colonial borders and unjust attachments.
If Azawad never existed (and was just a fantasy and dream on the social media as Malian Azawad-deniers keep saying), these maps, – and there are hundreds of them! – would never have been made, and would not exist. Neither would the name Azawad exist in old history books and other writings, but it does.
These maps also shows very clearly that the area called “Bambara” and Melli on some maps was located a lot more south than the Azawad in the Sahara desert – which also often were marked with “Tuareg” or with the names of old Tuareg confederations on some old maps.
That does not mean that only Tuareg lived there, but it means that they were clearly represented, and it shows clearly by the written out names, that the Azawadians and Malians were different peoples that lived in different territories. Which means that the Azawadians have never been “Malian”, and how could they have been “Malian”, when the state of Mali was not yet even created?
You can`t change the identity and history of an ancient people trying to make them become something they are not and have never been. And when they naturally resist such oppression and marginalization they call them “terrorists” and use that label as a license to kill them, and make up all kind of lies about them being “foreigners”… and etc, at the same time as their ancient culture is being appropriated.
Foreigners in their own land? but that is how they are treated and that is how many of them are made to feel. It`s the erasure of a people, a systematic genocide, nothing else.
How France could attach them together into one state – what gave them the right ?? – must be one of the most devastating colonial oppressive decisions ever made, causing thousands of people to get displaced and massacred.
“Azawad has existed for centuries, long before Mali’s artificial invention in 1960. Their post-colonial state is just a French construction entrusted to its local collaborators” to quote Fatim Wallet.
The denial of Azawads existence is a pathetic attempt to justify the cultural and military genocide against the people of Azawad, and its nothing but colonialism continuing in another form.
These maps are from 1578 to 1914.
Country of the “Imoshagh,” or Tawarek (Tuareg)
(Tademekket) and (Awilmmiden) around the bend of the Niger River, these were Tuareg confederations before colonization.
Year 1578:
Year 1600:
Year 1631:
Year 1641:
Year 1660:
Year 1667:
Year 1702:
Six pictures from two different books – year 1707:
Year 1740, four pictures:
Year 1752, three pictures:
Year 1864:
That Azawad would only be a “fantasy that never existed” is nothing but a monumental historical falsification, an attempt to hide the truth. The proofs are here right in front of our eyes, tucked away in old map books in international libraries even as far away as Brazil.
Map of Africa 1880 AD:
Year 1914:
Azawad, an ancient nation with an ancient history, with their own culture, writing and language. It was not a state in the modern sense with defined borders, due to that its population lived mostly (but not exclusively) a nomadic life. In turn, due to the harsh climate of the Sahara area and a nomadic lifestyle which was developed to adapt to its environment – since millenia. The tifinagh writings scattered all over this wast area is a witness to their presence.
Unfortunately, the state authorities of Mali never respected or accepted Azawad`s identity and instead marginalized them, and they still do all the can (with the help of Russian mercenaries and Turkish drones) to exterminate them.
Azawad Support Group & Azawadi Contexts 2025-2026
#Azawad #History #Maps #Colonialism #Injustice #Colonial_Borders #Genocide #Marginalization #Oppression #Human_Rights_Violations
Disclaimer: All credit goes to the owners of the pictures, they are only used for educational purpose.