Tahoua

Tahoua lies in Adar, a Sahelian country south of the Aïr Mountains. Its early settlement is remembered as a cluster of hunters' huts and farming hamlets. The local chief bore the title of Maggagi and was assisted by a council of elders that included a priestess and seven officials. Gardo Dari is remembered as the first Maggagi.

Local accounts trace the beginnings of Tahoua to two groups of hunters, the Fakaoua and Bilbissaoua, around the seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century, Tahoua and Adar formed part of the sphere of the Aïr Sultanate, and the Amattaza, a branch of the Tuareg Illisawan, administered the region. The Maggagi retained a measure of local authority, although the ruler at Illéla came to appoint Tahoua's chiefs.