Mauritania (redirected from Mauritanian)

Mauritania (môrĭtā`nēə), officially Islamic Republic of Mauritania, republic (2005 est. pop. 3,087,000), 397,953 sq mi (1,030,700 sq km), NW Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Western Sahara in the northwest and north, on Algeria in the northeast, on Mali in the east and southeast, and on Senegal in the southwest. Nouakchott is the capital and largest town.

Land and People

Most of Mauritania is made up of low-lying desert, which comprises part of the Sahara. Along the Senegal River (which forms the border with Senegal and is Mauritania's only perennial river) in the southwest is the semiarid Sahel with some fertile alluvial soil. A wide sandstone plateau (rising to c.1,500 ft/460 m) runs through the center of the country from north to south. In the southeast is the Hodh, a large basin in the desert. The country is divided into 12 administrative regions. In addition to the capital, other towns include Atar and Kaédi.

The majority of the population is made up of nomadic and seminomadic persons of Berber, Arab, Tuareg, and Fulani descent. Those of Berber, Arab, and mixed Berber-Arab background are sometimes called Moors, Maurs, or Maures. The remainder of the population mostly belong to the Tukolor, Soninke, Bambara, and Wolof ethnic groups and live as sedentary agriculturalists near the Senegal River. Recurrent droughts have forced many nomads from the countryside into the urban area of Nouakchott.

Virtually all the inhabitants of the country are Muslim, and many belong to the Qadiriyya brotherhood. The great majority of Mauritanians use Hasaniya Arabic, which, along with Wolof, is an official language. Other indigenous languages such as Pular and Soninke are also widely spoken. The country has a complex social caste system, with light-skinned Moors usually in positions of power and black Africans often at the bottom of the social ladder. In 1980, Mauritania became the world's last nation to officially ban slavery. Nonetheless, the institution reputedly persists, with thousands of Haratines, the Arabicized Africans known as black Moors, held in involuntary servitude.

Economy

Mauritania's economy is sharply divided between a traditional agricultural sector and a modern mining industry that was developed in the 1960s. The great majority of the country's workers are engaged either in raising crops or pasturing livestock and are largely unaffected by the mining industry. The principal agricultural products, produced chiefly near the Senegal River and in scattered oases, are millet, dates, sorghum, and yams. In times of drought food production levels can drop dangerously low. Sheep, goats, cattle, and camels are raised. There is a growing fishing industry based in the Atlantic and on the Senegal River. Since 1980, all foreign commercial fishing in Mauitanian territorial waters must be carried out jointly with Mauritania; this policy has increased export earnings.

A large deposit of high-grade iron ore was discovered in N Mauritania in the late 1950s, and production for export began in 1963; the iron industry was nationalized in 1974. Foreign sales of iron ore account for about half of the country's export earnings. Gypsum and salt are also mined. There are large copper ore reserves, but difficult mining conditions and low world commodity prices have resulted in mine closures. There are also offshore oil deposits, which the country began exploiting in 2006. The country's few manufactured goods are made up principally of processed food (especially fish) and clothing. The Trans-Mauritania highway connects the capital with the southeast regions. There is a deepwater port at Nouakchott.

The chief exports, in addition to iron ore, are processed fish, gold, and cattle (the latter sent mainly to Senegal); the leading imports are foodstuffs, machinery, transportation equipment, consumer goods, and refined petroleum. The principal trade partners are France, Japan, Italy, and Algeria. Mauritania has a large foreign debt.

History

Early History through Colonialism

By the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. Sanhaja Berbers had migrated into Mauritania, pushing the black African inhabitants (especially the Soninké) southward toward the Senegal River. The Hodh region, which became desert only in the 11th cent., was the center of the ancient empire of Ghana (700–1200), whose capital, Kumbi-Saleh, located near the present-day border with Mali, has been unearthed by archaeologists. Until the 13th cent., Oualata, Awdaghost, and Kumbi-Saleh, all in SE Mauritania, were major centers along the trans-Saharan caravan routes linking Morocco with the region along the upper Niger River.

In the 11th cent. the Almoravid movement was founded among the Muslim Berbers of Mauritania. In the 14th and 15th cent., SE Mauritania was part of the empire of Mali, centered along the upper Niger. By this time the Sahara had encroached on much of Mauritania, consequently limiting agriculture and reducing the population. In the 1440s, Portuguese navigators explored the Mauritanian coast and established a fishing base on Arguin Island, located near the present-day boundary with Western Sahara.

From the 17th cent., Dutch, British, and French traders were active along the S Mauritanian coast; they were primarily interested in the gum arabic gathered near the Senegal River. Under Louis Faidherbe, governor of Senegal (1854–61; 1863–65), France gained control of S Mauritania. The region was declared a protectorate in 1903, but parts of the north were not pacified until the 1930s.

Until 1920, when it became a separate colony in French West Africa, Mauritania was administered as part of Senegal. Saint-Louis, in Senegal, continued to be Mauritania's administrative center until 1957, when it was replaced by Nouakchott. The French ruled through existing political authorities and did little to develop the country's economy or to increase educational opportunities for the population. National political activity began only after World War II. In 1958, Mauritania became an autonomous republic within the French Community.

An Independent Nation

On Nov. 28, 1960, Mauritania became fully independent. Its leader at independence was Makhtar Ould Daddah, who in 1961 formed the Mauritanian People's Party (which in 1965 became the country's only legal party) and was the leading force in establishing a new constitution. Ould Daddah was elected president in 1961; the same year Mauritania became a member of the United Nations.

The 1960s were marked by tensions between the black Africans of the south and the Arabs and Berbers of central and N Mauritania, some of whom sought to join Mauritania with Morocco. By the early 1970s the main conflicts in the country were over economic and ideological rather than ethnic matters, as dissident workers and students protested what they considered an unfair wage structure and an undue concentration of power in Ould Daddah's hands. The long-term drought in the semiarid Sahel region in the south, which lasted from the late 1960s into the 1980s, caused the death of about 80% of the country's livestock, as well as extremely poor harvests in the Senegal River region.

Ould Daddah attempted to act as a bridge between N Africa and black Africa and in the early 1970s was on good terms with Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco as well as with the black African nations of Senegal and Liberia. In 1973, Mauritania became a member of the Arab League. In the same year the country began to loosen its ties with France by withdrawing from the Franc Zone and establishing its own currency. In 1976, when Spain relinquished control of Spanish Sahara, the territory became Western Sahara and was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania. This move left Mauritania (as well as Morocco) in conflict with the Polisario Front, a group of nationalist guerrillas fighting for independence for Western Sahara.

Ould Daddah's regime was overthrown in 1978, and Lt. Col. Mustapha Ould Mohamad Salek assumed power, promising to end involvement in the war. Salek's proposed Arabization of the country's educational system made him many enemies in the African community. He resigned and was succeeded by Lt. Col. Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly in 1979. In that year, Mauritania, under pressure from the Polisario Front, renounced all claims to Western Sahara. In 1980, Ould Louly was overthrown and replaced by Premier Lt. Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Heydalla. In 1981, Mauritania severed diplomatic relations with Morocco after it appeared Morocco had engineered a coup attempt against Heydalla. In 1984, Lt. Col. Maaouiya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya overthrew Heydalla's regime. Taya restored relations with Morocco in 1985.

In 1989, racial tensions between blacks and Moors reached new heights as 40,000 black Senegalese workers were driven out of the country. Rioting resulted, tens of thousands of black Mauritanians were forced from their land by the military, and Mauritania broke off diplomatic relations with Senegal. In 1991 a new constitution providing for multiparty rule was approved by referendum. President Taya was reelected in 1992 and 1997, amid allegations of fraud. In 1993 the United States stopped development aid to Mauritania in protest against the country's oppression of its black citizens and its support of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War; the government subsequently moved toward a pro-Western position.

Taya survived a coup attempt in June, 2003. In the Nov., 2003, presidential elections he received 66.7% of the vote; his nearest challenger, former president Heydalla, almost 19%. Despite new voting safeguards designed to prevent vote-rigging, there were again accusations of fraud. Heydalla was arrested after the election on charges of plotting a coup, which he denied. He received a suspended five-year sentence in December, and as a result of the sentence he lost his political and civil rights for five years. In Aug. and Sept., 2004, Mauritanian officials said they had foiled two more coup plots. At the same time, locusts ravaged a large portion of the nation's agricultural land, leading to concerns of a possible food crisis.

In Aug., 2005, while President Taya was abroad, the long-time national security chief, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall led a coup that replaced Taya with a 17-member military council headed by Vall. The coup was quickly denounced by the African Union, United States, and others, but after the council promised to hold democratic legislative elections within two years the objections ended. Mauritanians generally greeted the Taya's overthrow with celebration, and opposition groups with qualified approval.

In 2006 voters approved a new constitution limiting a president to two five-year terms in office. In the legislative elections (Nov.–Dec., 2006) a coalition of former opposition parties won the largest bloc of seats, followed by independents, but no group won a majority. Senatorial elections were held in Jan., 2007, and in March Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdellahi, a former government minister who ran as an independent but was supported by former government parties and was regarded as the military's candidate, was elected president after a runoff.

Bibliography

See R. N. Westebbe, The Economy of Mauritania (1971); A. G. Gerteiny, Historical Dictionary of Mauritania (1981).

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Mauritania

 officially Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Country, northwestern Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. Area: 398,000 sq mi (1,030,700 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 3,069,000. Capital: Nouakchott. The Moors (of mixed Arab-Berber and Sudanic descent) constitute the great majority of the population. Languages: Arabic (official), Fulani, Soninke, Wolof (all national). Religion: Islam (official; predominantly Sunni). Currency: ouguiya. Most of Mauritania is made up of low-lying desert that forms the extreme western part of the Sahara. Only a tiny fraction of its land is arable, but almost two-fifths is suitable for grazing, and the herding of goats, sheep, and camels occupies a significant portion of the largely nomadic population. Ocean fishing and iron ore production are major sources of revenue. Mauritania is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president, assisted by the prime minister. Inhabited in ancient times by Sanhaja Berbers, in the 11th–12th century it was the centre of the Berber Almoravid dynasty, which imposed Islam on many of the neighbouring peoples. Arab tribes arrived in the 15th century and formed several powerful confederations: Trarza and Brakna, which dominated the Sénégal River region; Kunta in the east; and Rigaibat in the north. The Portuguese arrived in the 15th century. France gained control of the coastal region in 1817, and in 1904 a formal French protectorate was extended over the territory. In 1920 it was added to French West Africa as a territory. In 1960 Mauritania achieved independence and left the French Community. The country's first president, Moktar Ould Daddah, was ousted in a coup in 1978, and a military government was established. In 1991 a new constitution was adopted, and a civilian government was installed in 1992. The country has faced continued economic hardship and political unrest.

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Mauritania

a republic in NW Africa, on the Atlantic: established as a French protectorate in 1903 and a colony in 1920; gained independence in 1960; lies in the Sahara; contains rich resources of iron ore. Official language: Arabic; Fulani, Soninke, Wolof, and French are also spoken. Official religion: Muslim. Currency: ouguiya. Capital: Nouakchott. Pop.: 2 980 000 (2004 est.). Area: 1 030 700 sq. km (398 000 sq. miles)