Town, southern Algeria. Located in the mountainous Ahaggar region on the Wadi Tamanghasset, the town originated as a military outpost, guarding trans-Saharan trade routes. It has become an important way station on the north-south asphalt road called the Trans-Sahara Highway via northern Algeria, which reached Tamanghasset in 1980. Although the desert climate is mitigated by the town's elevation of 4,521 feet (1,378 m), some of the world's highest known shade temperatures have been recorded there at the Jules Carde Observatory.
In 1905 Charles-Eugène Foucauld, the French explorer and ascetic, built his hermitage in the town of Tamanghasset, where he compiled a Tuareg language grammar and dictionary. A memorial column was erected near the spot where he was assassinated in 1916. The Museum of the Hoggar specializes in Tuareg exhibits. Population: 38,146.