Founded in 1985 as a trade and protection organisation in chaotic southern Algeria, by 1995 Tamahaq had begun to expand out of Algeria. The peoples of Tamahaq were joined by the few remaining Tebou People when parts of southern former Libya came under the control of Tamahaq in the mid 1990's. Tamahaq expanded again into former northern Niger in 1998. Tamahaq is bordered by Egypt, The Republic of Chad, Tamanrasset and Algeria