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Mauritania, [a] formally the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, [b] is a sovereign country in Northwest 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 .
Berbers occupied what is now Mauritania by the beginning of the third century AD. Groups of Arab tribes migrated to this area in the late seventh 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 ...
Subsequently, toward the end of the Mauritanian Tichitt culture, Mandé-speaking peoples began to spread and established Méma, Macina, Dia Shoma, and Jenne Jeno in the Middle Niger region as well as the Ghana Empire. Today, Mandé-speaking peoples are predominantly Muslim and follow a caste system.
Nearly 2 million people go to the polls on Saturday in Mauritania, a vast desert nation in West Africa which positions itself as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and ...
The Haratin form an ethnic group distinct from Arab and Tuareg populations, as well as from the contemporary ethnic groups of sub-Saharan Africa. [12] [15] [16] In Mauritania, however, where there are nearly 1.5 million Haratin, they have developed a separate sense of ethnic identity. [8]
Berbers moved south to Mauritania beginning in the 3rd century, followed by Arabs in the late 7th century, subjugating and assimilating Mauritania's original inhabitants. From the 8th through the 15th century, black kingdoms of the western Sudan, such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, brought their political culture from the south. [6]
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The Beidane, who are of mixed Arab and Berber ancestry, represent 30% of Mauritania's population. [1] [2] The language of the Beidane is Hassaniya Arabic. Al-Bidān (which literally translates to "Land of the whites") is an endonym used within Mauritania and Western Sahara by the Bidān people to refer to themselves. The name used by outsiders ...