Abalessa is a municipality in Tamanrasset Province

Tamanrasset Province

Tamanrasset or Tamanghasset is the largest province in Algeria. It was named after its province seat: Tamanrasset. The Province has two national parks, more than any other in Algeria. They are: Tassili n'Ajjer National Park and Ahaggar National Park...

, in southern Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

, coextensive with the district

Districts of Algeria

The provinces of Algeria are divided into 553 districts . The capital of a district is called a district seat...

 of the same name. It has 6,500 inhabitants (1998). Abalessa is located along the ancient Trans-Saharan trade route

Trans-Saharan trade

Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara to reach sub-Saharan Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the late 16th century.- Increasing desertification and economic incentive :...

, 80 km west of the city of Tamanrasset, the capital of the wilaya. The postcode of the town is 11,120.

The former capital of the Ahaggar

Ahaggar Mountains

The Ahaggar Mountains , also known as the Hoggar, are a highland region in central Sahara, or southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. They are located about 1,500 km  south of the capital, Algiers and just west of Tamanghasset. The region is largely rocky desert with an average...

, Abalessa is famous for the Tomb of Tin Hinan

Tin Hinan

Tin Hinan is the name given by the Tuareg to a 4th-century woman of prestige whose monumental tomb is located in the Sahara at Abalessa in the Ahaggar or Hoggar region of Algeria...

, the queen and mythical ancestor of the Tuareg people. Tin Hinan supposedly arrived in the Ahaggar Mountains area and lived there in the fourth or fifth century AD. On 18 October 1927 Byron Khun de Prorok, discovered a vault near Abalessa containing a skeleton, belonging to a woman, and her furniture. In his book Mysterious Sahara: The Land of Gold, of Sand, and of Ruin Khun de Prorok attributed the skeleton to Tin Hinan. Today, the skeleton is on display at the Bardo Museum

Bardo National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography

The Musée National de Préhistoire et d'Ethnographie du Bardo is a museum located in Algeria. It was established in 1928.- External links :* http://lebardo.info/...

 in Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, while the monument where it was discovered continues to be a popular tourist attraction in Abalessa among visitors to the Tamanrasset.