Toubou people
The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people"[8]) are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains[9] that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. They live either as herders and nomads or as farmers near oases. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures and wells.[10]
Genetics[edit]
According to a study published in The American Journal of Human Genetics (Haber et al. 2016) that examined Y-DNA haplogroups from samples obtained from 75 Toubou men, haplogroups associated with paternal Eurasian ancestry were present at rates of 34% for R1b (R1b-V88), 31% for T1a, and 1% for J1. The North African associated haplogroup E-M78 were present at rates of 28%, while E-M81 appeared at a rate of 5%.[23] The study also found that 20-30% of Toubou autosomal DNA was Eurasian in origin, and their African ancestral component was best represented by Laal-speaking populations. The most likely source of this Eurasian DNA, according to the analysis, was central European Neolithic farmers (Linearbandkeramik culture).[24] Other ethnic groups in the Chad, such as the Sara people and the Laal speakers had considerably lower Eurasian admixture, at only 0.3%-2% (Sara) and 1.25%-4.5% (Laal).[23]
In 2019, B Lorente-Galdos using whole genome analysis, found that in the two Northeastern Sub-Saharan samples, this Western Eurasian ancestry in their Toubou sample was 31.4%, and it was 14.9% for the East African Bantu. The Toubou also maintained similar genetic distance to other Sub-Saharan samples, but was also genetically close to North African and non-African samples. The Eurasian component in the North African individuals was present at high rates of 84.9% for the Saharawi, and 76.0% for the Libyan. North African samples were closer to Eurasian populations than to Sub-Saharan populations, implying that the Sahara Desert might have represented a major barrier within Africa. In contrast, the three Khoisan groups presented significantly small proportions of a Eurasian component (3.83-4.11%).[25]