THE DESERTS OF AFRICA accumulated over many generations, helps to decipher the numerous traces preserved in the desert sands. Since colonial times, the cultures of the peoples living in the deserts of Africa have been systematically attacked or unintentionally undermined – nomads were made to lead a sedentary life, caravan routes were bisected by national frontiers and their few pastures turned into arable land to be settled by farmers. The military power of these peoples was crushed in the course of prolonged campaigns. Present-day African nations tend to continue a policy clearly directed against the nomadic herdsmen cultures. The knowledge of the peoples living in these deserts is hardly ever appreciated, and their life-style - despite the many compromises with modern life - is looked