Mauritania, officially and also known as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to the north and northwest, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the southwest. By land area Mauritania is the 11th-largest country in Africa and the 28th-largest in the world; 90% of its territory is in the Sahara desert. Most of its population of 4.3 million live in the temperate south of the country; roughly a third of the population is concentrated in the capital and largest city, Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast. The country's name derives from Mauretania, the Latin name for a region, to the north, in the ancient Mediterranean Maghreb. Mauretania extended from central present-day northern Algeria to the Atlantic, in Morocco. Berbers occupied what is now Mauritania by the beginning of the 3rd century CE. Groups of Arab tribes migrated to this area in the late 7th century, bringing with them Islam, Arab culture, and the Arabic language. In the early 20th century, Mauritania was colonized by France as part of French West Africa. It achieved independence in 1960. The country has since experienced recurrent coups and periods of military dictatorship. The 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état was led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who won subsequent presidential elections in 2009 and 2014. He was succeeded by General Mohamed Ould Ghazouani following the 2019 elections, in what was considered the country's first peaceful transition of power since independence. Mauritania has a poor human rights record, particularly because of its perpetuation of slavery; the 2018 Global Slavery Index estimates there are about 90,000 slaves in the country (or 2.1% of the population). Despite an abundance of natural resources, Mauritania remains poor; its economy is based primarily on agriculture and fishing. Mauritania is culturally and politically part of the Arab world as a member of the Arab League. Arabic is the official language, while Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof are recognized as national languages. The state religion is Islam, and almost all inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. Despite its prevailing Arab identity, Mauritanian society is multiethnic. The Haratin, comprise 40% of the population while the Bidhan make up 30% of the population. The remaining 30% of Mauritania’s population comprises various sub-Saharan ethnic groups.
Etymology Mauritania takes its name from the ancient Berber kingdom that flourished beginning in the third century BC and later became the Roman province of Mauretania, which flourished into the seventh century AD. The two territories do not overlap, though; historical Mauretania was considerably farther north than modern Mauritania, as it was spread out along the entire western half of the Mediterranean coast of Africa. The term "Mauretania", in turn, derives from the Greek and Roman exonym for the Berber peoples of the kingdom, the Mauri people. The word "Mauri" is also the root of the name for the Moors. It was more commonly known to Arab geographers as Bilad Chinqit (Arabic: بلاد شنقيط), "the land of Chinguetti". The term "Mauritanie occidentale" was officially used in a ministerial circular in 1899; it is based on a proposal by Xavier Coppolani, a French military and colonial administrator, who was instrumental in the colonial occupation and creation of modern-day Mauritania. This term, employed by the French, gradually replaced other designations previously used for referring to the country.
History
Early history
The ancient tribes of Mauritania were Berber, Niger-Congo, and Bafour peoples. The Bafour were among the first Saharan peoples to abandon their previously nomadic lifestyle and adopt a primarily agricultural one. In response to the gradual desertification of the Sahara, they eventually migrated southward. Many of the Berber tribes have claimed to have Yemeni (and sometimes other Arab) origins. Little evidence supports those claims, but a 2000 DNA study of the Yemeni people suggested some ancient connection might exist between the peoples. The Umayyads were the first Arab Muslims to enter Mauritania. During the Islamic conquests, they made incursions into Mauritania and were established in the region by the end of the seventh century. Many Berber tribes in Mauritania fled the arrival of the Arabs to the Gao region in Mali. Other peoples also migrated south past the Sahara and into West Africa. In the 11th century, several nomadic Berber confederations in the desert regions overlapping present-day Mauritania joined to form the Almoravid movement. They expanded north and south, spawning an important empire that stretched from the Sahara to the Iberian Peninsula in Europe. According to a disputed Arab tradition, the Almoravids traveled south and conquered the ancient and extensive Ghana Empire around 1076. From 1644 to 1674, the indigenous peoples of the area that is modern Mauritania made what became their final effort to repel the Maqil Arabs who were invading their territory. This effort, which was unsuccessful, is known as the Char Bouba War. The invaders were led by the Beni Hassan tribe. The descendants of the Beni Hassan warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society. Hassaniya, a bedouin Arabic dialect named for the Beni Hassan, became the dominant language among the largely nomadic population.
Colonial history
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