Maures
Nation | Active
1540 CE to 2215 CE
Maures are the Arab-Berber populations of West Africa and the Maghreb, including ninety-nine percent of Moroccans.
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This Sanhaja war of liberation, or Char Bouba, led by Nasir ad Din, a Lemtuna imam, is, however, unsuccessful; the Berbers are forced to abandon the sword and become vassals to the warrior Arab groups.
Thus, the contemporary social structure of Mauritania can be dated from 1674.
The warrior groups or Arabs dominate the Berber groups, who turn to clericalism to regain a degree of ascendancy.
At the bottom of the social structure are the slaves, subservient to both warriors and Islamic holy men.
All of these groups, whose language is Hassaniya Arabic, became known as Maures.
The bitter rivalries and resentments characteristic of their social structure will later be fully exploited by the French.
Free blacks, culturally related to Africans in the south, settle in the Senegal River Basin.
The Maures, with whom the Europeans are trading, consider the constant rivalries between European powers a sign of weakness, and they quickly learn the benefits of playing one power against the other.
For example, they agree simultaneously to give monopolies to the French and the Dutch.
The Moors also take advantage of the Europeans whenever possible, so that when the French negotiate with the amir of Trarza to secure a monopoly on the gum arabic trade, the amir in exchange demands a considerable number of gifts.
Thus begins the coutume, an annual payment expected by the Moors for doing business with a government or a company.
The European powers in West Africa are interested only in coastal trading before the nineteenth century; they attempt no important inland exploration and establish no permanent settlements other than Saint Loui).
The European mercantile companies on the coast are charged with making the highest possible profit.
Four such French companies enjoy an official French-government monopoly of the Senegal River trade from 1659 to 1798.
Contact with the Maures and the black inhabitants of the valley comes about only in the course of trade.
From the beginning, French influence, competing with traditional trading partners north and east of Mauritania, come through Senegal.
In 1825 the new amir of Trarza, Muhammad al Habib, seeks to reassert his sovereignty over the French-protected Oualo Kingdom to the south of the Senegal River by marrying the heiress to the kingdom.
This action, which French authorities view as a hostile threat, combined with the amir's efforts to sell gum arabic to the British, bring a strong French reaction.
Although the Maures are able to lay siege to Saint Louis, a large French expeditionary force defeats the amir's forces.
The French conclude that to secure the continuing profitability of the gum arabic trade, they will have to forcibly occupy the northern bank of the Senegal River.
This action, which French authorities view as a hostile threat, combined with the amir's efforts to sell gum arabic to the British, bring a strong French reaction.
Although the Moors are able to lay siege to Saint Louis, a large French expeditionary force defeats the amir's forces.
The French conclude that to secure the continuing profitability of the gum arabic trade, they will have to forcibly occupy the northern bank of the Senegal River.
Louis Faidherbe, the French governor of Senegal from 1854 to 1861 and from 1863 to 1865, implementing thie new policy of occupying the area north of the Senegal River.
In 1840 a French ordinance had established Senegal as a permanent French possession with a government whose jurisdiction extended over all settlements then effectively under French control, including those in Mauritania.
By undertaking the governance of these Mauritanian settlements, French rulers directly challenge Maure claims of sovereignty.
Under orders from the new government of Louis Napoleon to end the coutume, to secure the gum arabic trade, and to protect the sedentary populations of the southern bank from Maure raids, Faidherbe conquers the Oualo Kingdom.
He next turns his attention to the amirates of Trarza and Brakna, which have united against him.
The Maures attack Saint Louis in 1855 and almost succeed in reclaiming the settlement, but they are repulsed and defeated a year later, north of the Senegal River
The treaties ending the war extende a French protectorate over Trarza and Brakna, replace the coutume with a three percent annual rebate on the value of gum arabic delivered, and recognize French sovereignty over the northern bank of the Senegal River.
In addition to his military ventures, Faidherbe sponsors an active program to undertake geographic studies and establish political and commercial ties.
In 1859 and 1860, Faidherbe sponsors five expeditions, including one that maps the Adrar, to all areas of western and southern Mauritania.
Louis Faidherbe's successors are content to maintain his gains and do not embark on further military ventures.
French colonial policy at this time can best be characterized by the warning given by the Colonial Ministry to the governor of Senegal in the late 1870s, "Let us not hear from you."
With France's virtual abandonment of Senegal, the relative calm created in the Chemama and southern Mauritania through Faidherbe's efforts comes to an end.
The Maures resume their traditional practices of internecine warfare and pillaging villages in the Chemama.
The commercial companies of Saint Louis, in virtual control of the colonial administration, sell arms to the Maures, while at the same time outfitting French punitive missions.
Scientific expeditions into Mauritania become increasingly subject to attack, and their European leaders are killed or held for ransom.
The obvious weakness of the French and their distraction with events elsewhere in the region emboldens the amirs to demand and secure the reinstatement of the coutume.