- Collection type
- Photograph
- Description
- View of men gathered with camels, with the head and neck of a camel prominent in the foreground.
- Date / Period
- Date of photograph: 1955
- Acquisition information
- Acceptance in Lieu: 03/2004
- Dimensions
- Image dimension 35 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 2004.130.13296.1 Previous PRM number: WT.1955.30.18a Previous other number: 1955/30.18a
- Research and responses
Research Notes - 'I also went back one summer to Morocco, and there, under the aegis of Hajj Thami al Glawi, was escorted from one magnificent kasbah to another through the High Atlas': Wilfred Thesiger, The Life of My Choice (2nd ed., London, 2000), p.401. [PG 10/12/2009]
Research Notes - It has been noted by Erik Jensen that Goulimine is the site a famous camel market: 'The [Western Sahara] region encompasses a vast area covering all Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara), much of northern Mauritinia, a significant part of southern Morocco and a corner of south-western Algeria. The inhabitants, traditionally nomadic, moved around the largely rocky desert in search of grazing for flocks of camels and goats. In past centuries they also profited from the caravan trade carrying goods between black Africa and Moroccan centres of trade and ports. The tribes are known collectively as Sahrawi (most famous the Erguibat and Oulad Delim). They are proud of their Arab origins, some claiming descent from the prophet, and speak a form of Arabic known as Hassaniya. Both men and women wear distinctive dress. In the case of men this includes a cloak-like garment classically coloured blue. The Sahrawis are therefore widely known as 'hommes bleu'; an early independence movement took that for its name. Goulemine was, and from what I know still is, the site of a famous camel market which lies well within Sahrawi territory./ The Tuareg I know much less about. I believe they inhabit a vast area well to the east of the Sahrawis. They do not appear, from what I heard, to interact. The Tuareg are a Berber people with quite different mores and language, who only coincidentally also like blue.' (Information provided by Dr. Erik Jensen, former head of a UN peace-keeping mission in Western Sahara, after visiting the PRM's exhibition 'Wilfred Thesiger in Africa', June 2010.) [PG 22/06/2010]
- Associated publications
- Research Publication - This image has been published in Philip N. Grover and Christopher Morton, 'Wilfred Thesiger's Photographs of Africa: A Centenary Selection', in Christopher Morton and Philip N. Grover (eds.), Wilfred Thesiger in Africa (London, 2010), p.188, figure 120: 'Tuareg men with camels. Goulimine, Morocco. 1955.' [PG 08/01/2010]
Search terms: Animal Husbandry