LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mauritania: Western Sahara
built 630 days ago
Mauritania is a desert nation in the northwest of Africa – two-thirds of its land is the Sahara desert, with less than one percent considered to be arable. Each year brings further desertification as sand dunes push a bit farther to the west. Lutheran World Relief's partner in Mauritania, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), works to help Mauritanians protect themselves from the risks inherent in desert living. One of LWF's primary activities in Mauritania includes planting different varieties of acacia trees around cities and villages to divert the winds that bring the sand.
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In Mauritania you have the second most fishy sea in the world and you have the wonderful Sahara. You can tread the same sand of the ancient caravans, few things are changed around. The time here has stopped, like in the ruins of Cinguetti and Oudane. Islam here is tollerant, some people are mistic belonging to Sufism.
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Mauritania, along with Morocco, annexed the territory of Western Sahara in 1976, with Mauritania taking the lower one-third at the request of former colonial power, Spain. After several military losses to Polisario, heavily armed and supported by Algeria, the local hegemon and rival to Morocco, Mauritania retreated in 1979, and its claims were taken over by Morocco. Due to economic weakness, Mauritania has been a negligible player in the territorial dispute, with its official position being that it wishes for an expedient solution that is mutually agreeable to all parties. While most of the former Spanish or Western Sahara has been woven into Morocco, the UN still considers the Western Sahara a territory that needs to express its wishes with respect to statehood: a referendum is still supposed to be held sometimes in the future, under UN auspices, to determine whether the "saharaouis" wish to remain part of Morocco or not. The Moroccan authorities, on their part, wish the saharaouis to remain part of Morocco and, as such, have made significant investments in the area.
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Most of Mauritania forms part of the Sahara. There is a good/bad chance that slavery still exists in the east. In the past Mauritania lay on one of the most lucrative trade routes in West Africa. It came under control of the Almoravid dynasty of Morocco, and later of the Arabs. Ultimately, France took control of Mauritania and maintained it till Mauritania's independence in 1960. During the Saharan droughts in the 1970's, Nouakchott became a major refugee center.
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Mauritania was first inhabited by blacks and Berbers, and it was a center for the Berber Almoravid movement in the 11th century, which sought to spread Islam through western Africa. It was first explored by the Portuguese in the 15th century, but by the 19th century the French gained control. They organized the area into a territory in 1904, and in 1920 it became one of the colonies that constituted French West Africa. In 1946, it was named a French Overseas territory.
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Mauritania ... faced disputes with its neighbors to the north and south at the end of the twentieth century. In August 1976 the armed POLISARIO Front of Western Sahara invaded Mauritania and forced it to give up its claims to one-third of Western Saharan territory. Morocco quickly took over the land as Mauritanian forces withdrew.
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Western Sahara