Ethnic groups in Mauritania

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mauritania forms the border between White and Black Africa . There are therefore among the ethnic groups in Mauritania those of Arab - Berber and those of black African descent.

The ethnic differentiation of the ethnic groups in Mauritania does not exclude the national unity modeled on Islam . The Tukulor living in the south were the first black Africans to convert to Islam towards the end of the 8th century. They spread their new religion in what is now Senegal and from there throughout West Africa . The sedentary population and those bordering the Senegal River were more shaped by colonization and much closer to Afro-European culture than the Moors , who were more influenced by the Arab world.

Cultural duality

Belonging to the Arab and Black African cultures was the official reason for the country's political function as a link when it gained independence in 1960. Traditionally, Mauritania is divided - also geographically - according to these ethnic groups into the so-called Ard al-Bīdān , which means "land of the whites", and Ard as-Sūdān , the "land of the blacks". These terms are used in a delimiting, but not disparaging manner.

The Mauritanian society is divided into hierarchically structured status groups or classes and at the same time into tribal groups. Therefore, blacks who belong to the nomadic world can belong to the same status group along with Arab-Berber ethnic groups. The name Moors , also Bīdān , applies to all nomadic groups that have been culturally Arabized - regardless of their ethnic origin. The following distinction divides the Moors into classes and the Black Africans into ethnic groups. Since Mauritania's independence in 1960, there has been a certain degree of softening of social differentiation, but the social structures have basically been preserved.

Population numbers

According to a rough estimate from 1992, Moors make up around 70 percent of the total population, while the Black African ethnic groups make up the remaining 30 percent. Population figures are a political issue in Mauritania and have not been officially given since the tensions between the two population groups in the 1980s. In April 1989 violent race riots began between Moorish cattle ranchers and Senegalese arable farmers on an island in the Senegal River, which led to pogroms in both states, the temporary closure of the border and the severance of diplomatic relations with the southern neighboring country. Finally, Senegal and Mauritania set up airlifts to transport 10,000 people from one country to the other. The open conflict was resolved a year later, but the causes - the dispute over the distribution of natural resources and land - persist.

The last census, the results of which were officially published, took place in 1977 and showed 80.3 percent Moors, 15 percent Halpulaaren (collectively Fulbe and Tukulor ), 3.4 percent Soninke , 1.1 percent Wolof and 0.2 percent others at 98 Percent Mauritanians (the rest foreigners) in the country. The section on ethnic distribution was not published in 1977, the next census from 1988 was officially kept completely under lock and key. The black African population thinks their numbers are too low. A study for UNESCO in 1982 estimated 18 percent halpulaaren. The Soninke make up 4 percent of the population, they are only represented in the Guidimaka region with a larger proportion (36 percent). The very small group of Wolof lives only in the south-western regions of Keur-Macène and Rosso.

Moors

The Bīdān or Moors are the inhabitants of the Ard al-Bīdān , which geographically makes up 9/10 of the land area, and make up the majority of the population of this region. They are all of nomadic origin, their idiom is Hassānīja , a dialect of Arabic.

The Bidhan are of Arab-Berber descent, although many of the African peoples have married over the centuries. These Moors occupy dispersed areas in West Africa , southern Morocco , Niger , the Atlantic coast and Mali . The Kunta who nomadized in the Timbuktu area should be mentioned here. The greatest concentration of this group can still be found in Mauritania , which owes its name to this main group. The complex social relationships of Moorish society are based on a rigid hierarchical social and ethnic division. The social distinctions reflect the impact of heritage, crafts and racing. Moors differentiate between the free and submissive status on the one hand and the noble, the tributary, the artisans and the slaves on the other. The non-Moorish, black African peoples of Mauritania know similar hierarchical social structures.

The two ruling groups of Moorish society are the warriors - mainly of Arab descent from the Beni Hassan tribes , hence their name Hassan or Lerab العرب- and the religious leader Zawaya الزواياor Telba الطلبة, also called marabouts , the heirs of the religious Moors of the Almoravids . These two groups represent the Moorish nobility and mixed the least with the black African peoples.

  • The marabouts or German "Marabus" ( Arabic الطلبة ettelba ) are mostly the Berber descendants of the Zwāya , religious fighters of the first white conquerors from the southwestern Sahara ; they are generally considered to be the descendants and heirs of the Almoravids; their social significance is based on their extensive knowledge of the Maliki legal school of Sunni Islam. Often with an intellectual education, they have left their mark on the current political life of Mauritania.
  • The warriors ( Arabic حسان hassān ) almost all come from the warlike tribe of the Banī Hassān ; they came from Yemen in Arabia via Egypt and Morocco between the 13th and 17th centuries to what is now Mauritania. They brought with them the Arab culture, which is based on a conception of Islam, of which the Berber Sanhājah were more impregnated than they were. Therefore, their political importance was based not on any religious determination that they might have claimed for themselves, but solely on their military strength. Their emirates Trārza , Ādrār , Brākna and Tagānt were for several centuries the framework of the fragile balance between the warlike and religious tribes.
  • The vassals of the tributaries ( hassania الزناقه zenaga ) belong to the elite and follow the Hassan and Zawaya in status. They are the descendants of the Berbers defeated by the Arabs, and their Arabic dialect shows greater Berber influence. Although these three social classes are called the "white" Moors ( Bidhan ), the Zenaga have intermingled with the Africans to a greater degree.
  • The artisans ( Arabic المعلمين lemalmin ) are seen as members of a self-contained caste who marry and lead a social life.
  • The bards and entertainers, (Hassania إيغاون ighawen ) in Mauritania, and griots generally known in West Africa, are also members of an independent caste.
  • The lowest social class are the "black" Moors (Hassania الحراطين Lehartin ), the descendants of the released slaves Haratin and the non-released slaves Abid (Sing. Abd ). In contrast to all previous ones, they are of black African origin. ( See also: Slavery in Mauritania ). Outside the Moorish social order are the Nemadi , hunters in the desert in the southeast of the country.

Original myths were passed on to heighten perceptions of social status and to justify elements of this sophisticated system of stratification. The artisans and musicians in the society of the Moors would be of Semitic ( Arab ) rather than Berber or African origin. It is thought that the fishermen of Imraguen , a caste group living near Nouadhibou , may have descended from the Bafour indigenous people, an indigenous black ethnic group who migrated south before the expansion of the desert. The small hunter groups of the Nmadis could be the remnants of the first people to inhabit the Sahara and are of Berber origin.

Soudans

Soudans ( Arabic السودان) the Arabs call the Black Africans, hence the naming of these ethnic groups in Mauritania.

There are five main Black African groups in Mauritania who traditionally predominantly farm and live in villages in the south of the country. The largest ethnic group is made up of the Tukulor , who traditionally predominate in agriculture, and the Fulbe, who breed cattle (both known as Halpulaaren ). Other black African groups are Soninke , Wolof and Bambara . Other small African ethnic groups also live in the south and in the oases in the rest of the country. Like the Bidhan, the majority of the Fulbe were nomads in the past. Almost all of them have relatives in Senegal or Mali. They speak Fulfulde or West Atlantic languages ​​from the Niger-Congo language family.

The Soudans were also politically decisive for some time during the empires of Ghana , Mali, and Tekrur . After the importance of these empires waned, they became more and more dominated by the Moors, but retained their traditions and languages. One differentiates:

Wolof ("least"); these settle in the valley of the Senegal River below the Rosso region(departments of Ndiago and Keur-Macène), where theymixwith the Moorish tribes of the Trārzas .

Soninke or Sarakolle inhabit Guidimakla and the Karakoro valley. Their ancestors, the Gangara , cultivated the Assaba plateauuntil the 17th century. They were the last black Africans who left the increasingly devastated south of the Sahara (the north of today's Mauritania),fleeingfrom the nomadic Berbers .

The most important ethnic group is that of the Tukulor between Rosso and Maghama . You can still find them in the regions of Aleg , Monguel and Mbout . They mix with the Sarakollés to the west of Selibaby . Individual families can still be found around Ould Yenge and Kobenni . Their social order is similar to that of the Moors: it is also divided into marabouts and warriors. Until recently, they played an important role in agricultural, social and political life.

The Fulbe are scattered between Gorgol and Hodh Ech Chargui . The majority of them are cattle breeders, but a growing number of them also grow millet around the small villages.

literature

  • Rainer Oßwald : The trading cities of Western Sahara: The development of the Arab-Moorish culture of Šinqīt, Wādān, Tišīt and Walāta. Berlin 1986.
  • John Hunwick: "Kunta". In: Encyclopédie de l'Islam. Nouvelle Édition . Vol. 5, Leiden 1986
  • Charles C. Stewart: Islam and Social Order in Mauretania. Oxford 1973.
  • John Spencer Trimingham: Islam in West Africa. Oxford 1959.
  • Nehemia Levtzion et al. Humphrey Fisher (ed.): Urban and Rural Islam in West Africa. Westview 1987.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simonetta Calderini, Delia Cortese, James LA Webb, Jr. (Eds.): Mauritania. World Bibliographical Series, Volume 141. Clio Press, Oxford et al. a. 1992, p. Xii
  2. ↑ Regina Wegemund: The foreign policy of Mauritania with special attention to relations with Senegal. In: Ursel Clausen (Ed.): Mauritania - an introduction. German Orient Institute, Hamburg 1994, p. 91f, ISBN 3891730373
  3. ↑ Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh: Traditional societies and social change in Mauritania. In: Ursel Clausen (Ed.): Mauritania - an introduction. German Orient Institute, Hamburg 1994, p. 17
  4. ^ Catherine Taine-Cheikh: Languages ​​and Identity in Mauritania. In: Ursel Clausen (Ed.): Mauritania - an introduction. German Orient Institute, Hamburg 1994, p. 134f