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.

[10] The Toubou are generally divided into two closely related groups: the Teda (or Tuda, Téda, Toda, Tira) and the Daza (or Dazzaga, Dazagara, Dazagada).

[17] The Teda are found primarily in the Sahara regions around the borders of southeast Libya, northeast Niger and northern Chad.

Some major tribes, clans, societies of the Daza, or Gouran, include the Alala, Altafa, Anakaza, Ankorda, Ayya, Sharara, Sharfada, Shuna, Daza, Djagada, Dogorda, Donza, Gadwa, Gaeda, Howda, Kamaya, Kamsoulla, Kara, Ketcherda, Kokorda, Maghya, Medelea, Mourdiya, Nara, Salma, Tchiroua, Tchoraga, Wandala, Wandja, Warba, Warda, Yira and many more.

[22][23] During the expansive era of Trans-Saharan trade, the Toubou inhabited lands which were frequently used by merchant caravans, specifically along the Kufra oasis routes.

[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.

[25] Toubou life centers on raising and herding their livestock, or on farming the scattered oases where they cultivate dates, grain and legumes.

[30] According to Jean Chapelle, a colonial officer of history specializing in Chadian ethnic groups (although his book in Borkou has caused a significant degree of wrongdoing), the clan system developed out of necessity.

[31] Toubou honour requires that someone from the victim's family try to kill the murderer or a relative; such efforts eventually end with negotiations to settle the matter.

[39][40] The endogamous caste of Azza (or Aza) among Toubou have the artisanal occupations, such as metal work, leather work, salt mining, well digging, dates farming, pottery and tailoring, and they have traditionally been despised and segregated by other strata of the Toubou, much like the Hadahid caste in southeastern Chad among the Zaghawa people.

[41][42] According to Paul Lovejoy – a professor of African History, the 19th century records show that these segregated Toubou castes followed the same customs and traditions as the rest of the Toubou, but they were independent in their politics and beliefs, much like the artisan castes found in many ethnic groups of western Chad such as the Kanembou, Yedina, Arab, Kouri and Danawa.

[38][45] Slaves entered the Toubou Teda and Daza societies from raids and warfare on other ethnic groups in lands to their south.

In the year 1953, Al-Haj Kellei Chahami, a highly esteemed privileged chieftain of the Kamaya canton, an agreement with the French colonizers decreed the emancipation of all slaves and suppressed the use of captives in the Borkou region, while slaves from the contiguous regions, such as Tibesti and Ennedi, uncovered the liberation center situated in Borkou.

Several of these slaves escaped and sought refuge in Borkou under the protection of the Kamaya canton and they were subsequently emancipated by the esteemed chief, Al-Haj Kellei Chahami, who granted them land that enabled them to settle, and this district was formerly referred to as "Ni-Agaranga" in Dazaga, which literally translates to "country of slaves" in the Faya-Largeau city.

Not only the captives were attached to the Kamaya canton, but along with all foreigners who resided in Faya, including Fezzanais (Libyan refugees who fled Italian brutality in 1929 before the Italian colonialists' progression into southern Libya, the Fezzan region), Ouadaens from the Chad's Waddai region, prostitutes, blacksmiths etc, were also attached to the Kamaya canton.

The mispronunciation in question may be attributed to the challenges faced by French colonists while attempting to articulate the phoneme represented by the letter "y" in the alphabet.

Moreover, the explorers who visited Borkou before the French colonization made contributions to the misinterpretation of various expressions, as evidenced by Gustav Nichtigal's works.

The term "Kamadja" has become somewhat entrenched a certain level of permanence but is losing its relevance of the Kamaya ethnic group due to its lack of self-identification.

This term was introduced and propagated by Europeans, and there is a belief that it has inaccurately misquoted, misconstrued, and distorted the sound of "y" to "dj" or "j" in the names of various clans, tribes, communities, rural areas, organisms, and numerous other entities throughout the entirety of Chad.

This expression pertains to the inhabitant of the Faya oasis in the accent of Kanem Dazaga, where "Kama" describes a valley, "dro" implies interior, and "yédé" denotes an occupant.

Conversely, "Kamayédé" is the singular and authentic noun used to refer to an occupant of the Faya palm grove oasis valley, since the suffix "dé" is appended to the solitary form of "yé".

In Dazaga, the community is called "Kama-yanga" which means the Kamaya canton and together with the suffix "ga" implies the dialect spoken by the Dazagada.

[31] Within an oasis or settled zone belonging to a particular clan, land, trees (usually date palms), and nearby wells may have different owners.

[31] The derde, Oueddei Kichidemi, recognized but little respected up to that time, protested the excesses, went into exile in Libya, and, with the support of Toubou students at the Islamic University of Bayda, became a symbol of opposition to the Chadian government.

[31] Goukouni was to become a national figure; he played an important role in the battles of N'Djamena in 1979 and 1980 and served as head of state for a time.

[31] Another northerner, Hissène Habré of the Dazagra, replaced Goukouni of the Teda in 1982, and eventually lost power to the Zaghawa Idriss Déby after 8 years.

[49] The Toubou minority in Libya suffered what has been described as "massive discrimination"[50] both under the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi as well as after the Libyan civil war.

In response, an armed group called the Toubou Front for the Salvation of Libya (TFSL) staged an uprising in November 2008 which lasted for five days and claimed 33 lives before being crushed by government security forces.