Arguin

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Arguin
Arguin sandbank: Arguin above in the center of the picture.
Arguin sandbank:
Arguin above in the center of the picture.
Waters Atlantic Ocean
Geographical location 20 ° 36 '12 "  N , 16 ° 27' 41"  W Coordinates: 20 ° 36 '12 "  N , 16 ° 27' 41"  W.
Arguin (Mauritania)
Arguin
length 8 kilometers
width 2.6 km
surface 20 km²
Highest elevation 5  m
Residents uninhabited

Arguin ( Arabic آركين, DMG Ārkīn , Portuguese Arguim ) is an island off the coast of Mauritania . It is located south of Nouadhibou and is part of the Arguin sandbank .

In a diverse coastal landscape with sand dunes, mud flats, shallow spots, small islands and the neighboring desert, there is an ideal wintering area for migratory birds. The fish-rich area with sea ​​turtles and dolphins is part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park .

history

Portuguese discovery

The waters of the Arguim Bay were first navigated in 1441 by Europeans, the Portuguese navigator and explorer Nuno Tristão on behalf of Henry the Navigator .

In 1443 the island near Cape Blanc was discovered by the Portuguese Nuno Tristão or Gonçalo de Sintra . Arab traders ran a slave market here , but also traded gold dust , ivory and other goods. Álvaro Fernandes , the nephew of João Gonçalves Zarco , explored the island from Madeira in 1445 and had the first wooden palisades built. This created the first permanent trading post on the island, which the Portuguese established on the local coast. From here they developed their African trade, in which they penetrated deep into the Sahara . The Portuguese mainly offered cloth, horses and wheat for slaves and gold dust. A stone fort was built between 1455 and 1461 under Soeiro Mendes , who came from Èvora and later became the governor of Arguim . On February 5, 1633, the Dutch captured the Portuguese fort.

Brandenburg colony

On October 5, 1685, the captain of the Brandenburg frigate " Rother Löwe ", Cornelius Reers , succeeded in a stroke-like occupation of the until then fiercely contested island of Arguin. Reers, who had to fend off Dutch and French attacks, restored the old Portuguese fort on the island. He managed to conclude a treaty with the local king of Argien , in which the latter accepted Brandenburg as a protective power. This treaty was ratified in 1687 and renewed again in 1698. Trade in the colony, which also encompassed the opposite coastal strip southeast of Cape Blanc, developed favorably. The island was at times a central hub in the international rubber trade . However, the colony was subject to constant attacks from the Dutch, French and English .

Arguin's fortress (1721).

With the end of the Brandenburg-Prussian colonial ambitions came the end for the Arguin colony. The French anticipated a Dutch attack and attacked the Arguin fort. Its crew under Captain Jan Wynen Bastiaens could not withstand the attack, gave up the fort on March 9, 1721 and retreated to the mainland fighting. The Arguin colony was lost to Brandenburg / Prussia.

Changing rulers

The French were only able to hold Arguin for about a year, then the island first came to the Netherlands . From 1724 the French were again the rulers of the island, but this time too their possession did not last long - from 1728 Mauritanian clan chiefs were the real rulers. It was not until the early 20th century that Arguin became part of the French colony of Mauritania (as part of French West Africa ) and became independent with it in 1960.

See also

literature

  • Ulrich van der Heyden: Red eagles on Africa's coast. The Brandenburg-Prussian colony Großfriedrichsburg in West Africa. Selignow, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-933889-04-9 .
  • Ulrich van der Heyden: The desert island of Arguin. In: Ulrich van der Heyden, Joachim Zeller (ed.): “… Power and share in world domination.” Berlin and German colonialism. Unrast, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-024-2 .
  • Théodore Monod : L'île d'Arguin (Mauritanie). Essai historique (= Série de Mémorias. 23). Centro de Estudos de Cartografia Antiga, Lisbon 1983.
  • Arguin . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 2 : Andros - Austria . London 1910, p. 482 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

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