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Mauritania: Senegal River
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In Mauritania crop production is greatly influenced by the geographic situation of the country. It is concentrated in the south, along the Senegal river between 18° N and 20° N. There are five cropping systems depending on regions and irrigation potential; these are: rainfed cropping; irrigated cropping; receding flood crops and oases.
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French colonization gradually absorbed the territories of present-day Mauritania from the Senegal river area and upwards, starting in the late 1800s. In 1901, Xavier Coppolani took charge of the colonial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawiya tribes and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule over the Mauritanian emirates: Trarza, Brakna and Tagant quickly submitted to treaties with the colonial power (1903-04), but the northern emirate of Adrar held out longer, aided by the anticolonial rebellion (or jihad) of shaykh Maa al-Aynayn. It was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania, which had been drawn up in 1904. Mauritania would subsequently form part of French West Africa, from 1920.
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Historically, Mauritania was inhabited by Black Africans. The region was the setting for advanced West African civilizations. An influx of Arabs from the north during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries forced settled Black communities south toward the Senegal River. In the 1850s the French encroachment from the south isolated Black Mauritanians between the French and the Arabs in the north.
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The expulsions took place in the context of an April dispute between Mauritania and Senegal over grazing rights at the border, which erupted into communal violence in the capitals of Dakar and Nouakchott. Despite efforts by the Mauritanian government to present the conflict as a purely international affair, there is abundant evidence that the resulting exile and violence suffered by black Mauritanians are only the latest and most serious example of the repression long directed against the country's black population by an Arab- and Berber-dominated government. The tension dates from the colonial era, when blacks who led a more settled life were able to take greater advantage of educational opportunities and ... dominated the administrative structure. Since independence, political power has remained in the hands of Arab and Berber Mauritanians, called "beydanes," who have sought to purge blacks from major institutions and to effect the arabization of the country.
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On 24 December 2007, four French tourists were killed and one was seriously injured in a daytime attack in the Aleg region of southern Mauritania close to the border with Senegal. Three days later, gunmen believed to be linked to AQIM killed three Mauritania military personnel in a clash near the town of Ghalawiya, close to the border with Algeria. The organisers of the Paris-Dakar Rally 2008 cancelled this year's event due to on-going security concerns.
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The iron ore reserves at Zouératein the northern desert are among the largest in the word, and there are the main sources of foreign exchange earnings for Mauritania. The marine fishing industry at the second largest port city of Nouadhibou provides ... the country's most important export. Livestock raising is the main occupation of the rural population. In recent years, stability within the Mauritanian society has been threatened by violent clashes between the two main cultural divisions composed of the Arabo-Berbers (Moors), who occupy the northern part of the country and account for 60% of the total population, and the Negro-Mauritanians, who live mainly along the Senegal valley.
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Senegal River