Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
UNDERSTAND MAURITANIA
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Mauritania Today
The rule since 2008 of General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has seen mixed fortunes for
Mauritania. The economy has grown, in part due to mineral extraction, gas exploration and
new factory fishing licences given to EU and Chinese fleets, but a prolonged drought in
2011 led to rocketing food prices and an increase in aid dependency for swathes of the pop-
ulation.
Mauritania's long border with Mali has also seen it receive large numbers of refugees,
and the government has had to tread carefully to avoid being dragged into the Malian con-
flict. In October 2012, Aziz survived an 'accidental' shooting by one of his soldiers, the ex-
act circumstances of which still remain unclear.
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History
From the 3rd century AD, the Berbers established trading routes all over the Western Saha-
ra, including Mauritania. In the 11th century, the Marrakesh-based Islamic Almoravids
pushed south and, with the assistance of Mauritanian Berber leaders, destroyed the Empire
of Ghana, which covered much of present-day Mauritania. That victory led to the spread of
Islam throughout Mauritania and the Western Sahara. The descendants of the Almoravids
were finally subjugated by Arabs in 1674.
As colonialism spread throughout Africa in the 19th century, France stationed troops in
Mauritania, but it was not until 1904 that, having played one Moorish faction off against
another, the French finally managed to make Mauritania a colonial territory. Independence
was fairly easily achieved in 1960 because the French wanted to prevent the country from
being absorbed by newly independent Morocco. Mokhtar Ould Daddah became Maurit-
ania's first president.
Ould Daddah took a hard line, especially against the (mainly black African) southerners,
who were treated like second -class citizens and compelled to fit the Moors' mould. Any
opposition was brutally suppressed.
