Nouakchott - History

During the Neolithic Age, the area of the Sahara which now covers the north of Mauritania was much more fertile than at present. The original ancestors of the Soininke tribe, the Bafours, practised agriculture and were largely stationary. As the desert spread they moved south.

During the third century AD, the Sanhadja Berbers began to move into the western Sahara from the north. By the eleventh century AD, this broad grouping of nomadic tribes had established a strong political influence in the area.

As a captive people under the Ghana empire, the Sanhadja embraced Islam and rallied behind the Almoravids, who seized Sijilmassa in 1054 and declared a jihad against Ghana whom they defeated in 1076.

The Almoravid empire stretched from Ghana to Spain. A major figure in the empire's history is Yousef ibn Tashfin, who conquered Morocco and founded the city of Marrakesh in 1062. In fact, there were really two Almoravid empires; one founded by Abu Bakr in the Sahara and Sahel, and the other by Tashfin in the north.

The northern empire lasted around 50 years and the Sanhadja Berbers supporting the Almoravids eventually came under threat from the rising power of the empire of Mali.

By the 13th century, the Sanhadja faced another threat, this time from the Maqil Arabs. The Arabs seized many of the caravan routes and a few hundred years of skirmishes led to the more serious Thirty Years War with the Arabs lasting from 1644-74.

When they were eventually defeated and the Treaty of Tin Yedfad signed, they agreed to a process of education and vocational training which was based on Arabisation of the culture. Consequently, Sanhadja descendants now speak Hassaniya, an Arabic dialect, which takes its name from the Bani Hassan tribe, the principal Maqil tribe which defeated them.

During the colonial period, Mauritania remained little more than an administrative appendage to Senegal. The first nationalist party, the Entente Mauritanienne, was set up by Ould Babana, Mauritania's first representative in the French senate.

This was followed by the conservative Union Progressive Mauritanienne (UPM) which was founded in 1948 by traditionalist tribal leaders. Ould Daddah was one of their principal leaders and was later chosen by France as head of the Mauritanian Advisory Council.

The Entente was absorbed and a new party, the Parti de Regroupement Mauritanien (PRM) was formed in 1958. With French support in the first elections to the National Assembly, the PRM won all 40 seats, political opposition having been banned.

Independence was granted on 28 November 1960, but only to prevent Mauritania from being absorbed by Morocco. Morocco in fact did not recognise Mauritania until 1969.

Negotiations with the Polisario reopened in July 1979, with Mauritania announcing that it had no claim on Tigris Al-Gharbia. On 3 August, in Algiers, the Comite Militaire de Salut National (CMSN) formally renounced territorial rights to the Western Sahara. Diplomatic relations with Algeria were re-established.

However, King Hassan of Morocco reacted by sending reinforcements into Dakhla, the capital of Tigris Al Gharbia. A series of party troubles led to a coup on 16 March 1981, which Mauritania claimed had been supported by Morocco. The government crushed the coup and executed its four leaders.

The then head of state Ould Heydalla was still left with the challenge of the Western Sahara. He supported the Western Sahara's admission into the OAU, but did not recognise the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) until 27 February 1984. Under his leadership, however, the CMSN managed to abolish slavery on 15 July 1980.

A coup took place on 12 December 1984, led by Lt. Col. Maouya Ould Sid Ahmed Ould Taya, who assumed control. He immediately gave amnesty to political prisoners and pledged greater social welfare programs.

Taya was known for his ingenious reshuffling of cabinets in 1985-86, but he is also recognised for his achievements in foreign policy. On 13 April 1985, he improved relations with Morocco, although he did not go back on his recognition of the SADR (Sahara Arab Democratic Republic). He even restored relations with Libya, which had been damaged when Libya was accused of supporting student unrest in Mauritania, and when it had deported 1,000 Mauritanians working in Libya in 1985.

In the late eighties Taya introduced an attempt at democracy by setting up democratically elected councils. In the referendum of July, 1991, the Mauritanian people voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new constitution with multi-party elections.

In January 1992, Taya was elected president, and with the pro-government party, the Democratic and Social Republican Party (PDRS), has continued to win a series of national and local elections. In the April elections of 1992 the pro-government Democratic and Social Republic Party (PDRS) won 37 seats in contrast to the opposition's 16. The main opposition party under Ould Daddah, the UFD, changed its name to the UFD-New Era.