Atar

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Atar (disambiguation) .

Atar أطار
Business and craft district
State :	Mauritania
Region :	Adrar
Department:	Atar
Coordinates :	20 ° 31 ′  N , 13 ° 3 ′  W Coordinates: 20 ° 31 ′  N , 13 ° 3 ′  W
Height :	207 meters above sea level
Residents :	32,262 (2010)
Time zone :	GMT ( UTC ± 0 )
Atar

Atar ( Arabic أطار, DMG Aṭār ) is the capital of the Adrar administrative region in Mauritania . It is located in the Western Sahara in the cultural heartland of the Arab-Berber Bidhan -Volksgruppen in a date palm - Oasis and is the economic center for the north of the country.

location

Atar lies in a slightly undulating plain, which is bounded in the southeast by the strata of the Adrar Plateau ( Atar Group and Atar Cliffs Group ). In the west, a small chain of hills rises up like a layered desk, which is built up from the Foum choir formation . The deep sandy soils are made up of individual acacias , the thorn bushes are grazed by sheep and goats. A sandy wadi ( Oued Seguelil ) in the north of the city is more densely overgrown and fills with water during the summer rainy season. A large part of the Mauritanian date harvest comes from the surrounding area.

Atar is the traffic center for two important oasis cities in the Middle Ages, which today hardly play a role economically: Chinguetti, known as a tourist destination, is located 124 kilometers to the east along an asphalt road on the plateau of the Atar-Cliffs group. Ouadane is 190 kilometers away in the same direction. After a few kilometers, a partially asphalted road leads north to a settlement with wattle huts ( tikkits ) to the small desert town of Choum on the Nouadhibou - Zouerat railway line and on to the iron ore mining area near Zouérat . The fastest, 450 km long road connection is in a south-westerly direction via Akjoujt to the state capital Nouakchott . 15 kilometers to the north-west is the Azougui oasis with ruins from the Almoravid times.

The airport on the eastern edge of the city was expanded to international standards in 2001. In the winter season there is a direct charter connection with Air Méditerranée to Paris. Several bus companies go to Nouakchott; the places in the Adrar region can usually only be reached with one shared taxi every day.

history

Basis of life: Oasis on the outskirts

According to legend, Chinguetti and Ouadane were founded in the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively. Since then, and possibly going back further, there has been a continuity of settlement in these places, which were important as caravan camps and trading posts. In these cases, the term city is understood as a permanent settlement with permanent houses in an area otherwise populated by nomads . Atar was also involved in medieval trade between Morocco and the Sudan region , without having become known as a cultural center at the same time.

From 1830 Algeria came under French colonial rule, a few years later France conquered what is now Senegal . At that time there were already plans to connect the two areas. In order to explore the routes in between, Léopold Panet was commissioned to cross the Sahara in 1849. He described the Adrar region in detail and described Atar as much more important than Chinguetti. Accordingly, the fields of Atar supplied the entire region with agricultural products. In addition to dates, wheat, barley and millet were grown. Sheep, cattle, dromedaries, ostrich feathers , blue cloth from Europe and salt were traded in the market.

The advance of French troops began around 1900 from their previous colonial area across the Senegal River to the north. The military leader Xavier Coppolani had reached an agreement with local tribes in Boutilimit in 1902 for the peaceful penetration of southern Mauritania, but he was killed by insurgents in June 1905 while staying in Tidjikja . So far the areas of Trarza and Tagant had officially come under French control, the anti-colonial resistance groups withdrew further north into the Adrar region and from now on began increasingly violent actions. In 1906, the people of Adrar asked for support against the French from Mā 'al-ʿAinain al-Qalqamī , the most important anti-colonial leader who at that time led the resistance actions in the city ​​of Smara in Western Sahara, which he founded. The revered Sheikh sent Hassenna, one of his sons, to Atar to lead the resistance there. The Emir of Adrar had been expelled for fraternization with the French, and his successor was a man nominated by Smara. Some minor military successes could not cover up the division of the tribes into opponents and allies of France, the tribal feuds continued. Mā al-ʿAinin's fighters marched into action en masse on horseback with standards and shouts, where the French troops met them with machine guns and artillery. Nevertheless, the fraternization between fighters from northern Smara and some tribes from southern Mauritania led to new attacks in 1908. On August 6, 1908, the French, who this time also had a holy man (of the Biri tribe from the south) on their side, carried out an attack on Atar during their Adrar offensive. Hassenna initially defended the position, but his people fled and the French took over the town. The French commander Henri Gouraud , successor to Coppolani, installed his own emir for the Adrar in Atar.

The Emirate of Adrar was allowed to continue to exist during colonial rule with assured support for the French. Mohammed el-Mamoun, a nephew of Mā al-ʿAinin and a devout marabout , fought in Morocco with German support against the French during World War I and from 1929 as one of the leaders of the Sahrawi resistance in the Spanish Sahara . In September 1931, his troops, formed from the Reguibat and Oulad Delim tribes, defeated the France-friendly Groupe Nomade d'Atar in a battle 80 kilometers north of the city. In March 1932 the Emir of Adrar, Sidi Ahmed Ould Aida, fled with rebels from Atar towards the Spanish colonial area. He was shot before the border.

Mosque. The motif of the pointed arch windows is a relic from the colonial era.

Atar and Tidjikja became administrative capitals of their respective provinces during the colonial period, while the formerly important Islamic cultural centers Ouadane, Chinguetti and in the south Tichitt and Oualata sank to the province due to the decline in caravan trade. Until independence, there was a large French troop presence in Atar. In 1976, at the height of the Western Sahara conflict , the Mauritanian army established the École Militaire Interarmes d'Atar (EMIA), the only officers' school in the country, near the old French fort .

When it gained independence, Atar was the largest city in the country with around 10,000 inhabitants. In 1963, the newly founded capital Nouakchott (11,000 inhabitants) narrowly overtook Atar with 9,500 inhabitants. Several years of drought in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in progressive desertification and drove many nomads to the cities, where they were often dependent on foreign aid. The census in 1988 showed 21,400 inhabitants, in the 2000 census there were 24,021, for 2012 32,790 inhabitants were calculated.

Cityscape

Coming from the south, the main road from Nouakchott ends at the central roundabout. In the irregular, spider web-like city map, the road to Choum leads west from the roundabout, east to Chinguetti, the market lanes of the old town begin to the north and a wide street leads south-east to a second roundabout in a spacious new residential area and ends at the airport.

Market with housewares in the morning

To the south of the central roundabout, there are administrative buildings with pointed arched windows from the colonial era. The old town center (Ksar) begins just north with a market area, which is particularly busy in the mornings, with housewares, a seasonal selection of vegetables from the surrounding gardens, dried dates and handicrafts. Traditional offers, if they can still be found, include cushions made of painted leather ( surmije ) , riding saddles for dromedaries ( rahla ) , tobacco pouches ( beīt ) and small pipe pipes (ṭūba) . Cheap plastic necklaces and glass beads are far more common.

Behind the market, the old residential and craft district stretches out with one-story, mostly windowless houses, whose dark chambers are only illuminated through a door from the inner courtyard. The old houses are made of rubble stones and plastered with clay. Some house doors are still made of carved boards with wooden bars.

Atar is the starting point for tourists to make excursions in the surrounding area, so there are half a dozen restaurants and just as many simple campsites with accommodation, some of which have been closed since 2008 due to the politically tense situation due to low demand.

sons and daughters of the town

• Med Hondo , b. Abib Mohamed Medoun Hondo (1936–2019), film director and actor
• Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (* 1941), President from 1984 to 2005
• Mohamed Lamine Ch'Bih Ould Cheikh Melainine, opposition politician

Climate table

Atar
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     2   27 12     1   30th 14th     1   34 17th     0   36 20th     2   39 23     7th   42 27     8th   42 27     32   41 27     37   40 27     11   37 23     8th   33 18th     5   28 14th Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: wetterkontor.de

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Atar Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 27.4 29.5 33.6 36.2 38.5 41.9 41.7 40.8 39.9 36.9 32.5 27.9 O 35.6 Min. Temperature (° C) 12.3 13.6 16.6 19.8 22.7 26.7 27.3 26.9 26.5 23.4 17.9 13.6 O 20.6 Precipitation ( mm ) 2 1 1 0 2 7th 8th 32 37 11 8th 5 Σ 114 Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 8.1 9.3 10.0 10.9 10.4 10.2 9.6 9.5 8.4 8.3 8.5 8.2 O 9.3 Rainy days ( d ) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 Σ 6th Humidity ( % ) 31 29 28 25th 23 23 30th 33 31 25th 28 30th O 28 Source: wetterkontor.de

Web links

Commons : Atar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Atar. Big Town of the Adrar. LookLex

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Atar. World Aero Data
2. ↑ Léopold Panet: Première du exploration occidental Sahara: Relation d'un voyage du Sénégal à Soueira (Mogador). In: Revue Coloniale , Paris 1850, pp. 473-590. After: Wolf-Dieter Seiwert (Hrsg.): Maurische Chronik. The peoples of Western Sahara in historical lore and accounts. Trickster-Verlag, Munich 1988, p. 154.
3. ↑ John Mercer: Spanish Sahara. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London 1976, pp. 112f.
4. ↑ Tony Hodges: Western Sahara. The Roots of a Desert War. Lawrence Hill Company, Westport (Connecticut) 1983, p. 62.
5. ↑ Anthony G. Pazzanita, Tony Hodges: Historical Dictionary of Mauritania. 2nd Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Lanham (Maryland) / Toronto / Plymouth 2008, pp. 89f.
6. ^ Rainer Oßwald: The trading cities of the Western Sahara. The development of the Arab-Moorish culture of Šinqīṭ, Wādān, Tīšīt and Walāta (= Marburg studies on Africa and Asia . Vol. 39). Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1986, p. 477.
7. ^ Walter Reichhold: Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Kurt Schroeder, Bonn 1964, p. 19.
8. ↑ Āţār. Type of geographic object. ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. World Gazetteer 
9. ↑ Thomas Krings : Sahel. Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger. Islamic and traditional black African culture between the Atlantic and Lake Chad. DuMont, Cologne 1985, pp. 231-233.