Tebu Knife – Libya

Early 20th century. Steel blade, leather and copper handle, hide scabbard. Cm. 38,0 in length (14.96″); the blade is cm. 24,7 in lenght (9.72″). Weight: grams 241,2 (8.51 oz.).

The Toubou people have historically lived in northern Chad, northwestern Niger and southern Libya. The Toubou people are distributed across a large area in the central Sahara, as well as the north-central Sahel. They are particularly found north of the Tibesti mountains, which in Old Tebu means “Rocky Mountains.” Their name is derived from this. The Toubou people have sometimes been called the “black nomads of the Sahara”.

Toubou life centres on raising and herding their livestock, or on farming the scattered oases where they cultivate dates and grain and legumes. Their herds include dromedaries, goats, cattle, donkeys and sheep. As nomadic pastoralists, many Toubou move. Those who prefer a settled life typically live in palm-thatched, rectangular or cylindrical mud houses.