![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/02\/Mauritania-in-Africa.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>The country derives its name from the ancient Berber kingdom of Mauretania<\/a>, which existed from the 3rd century BCE into the 7th century CE in the modern-day Morocco<\/a> and West Algeria. Prior to the Islamization of the area by Arab conquests in the 8th century, Mauritania was inhabited by Berbers since the 3rd century. Mauritania became a French colony during the European Scramble for Africa<\/a>. Approximately 90% of Mauritania’s land is within the Sahara; consequently, the population is concentrated in the south, where precipitation is slightly higher. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott<\/a>, located on the Atlantic coast, which is home to around one-third of the country’s 4 million people. The country’s official religion is Islam, with almost the entire population being Sunni Muslims. Arabic is the official language, with French also widely used due to its colonial history. Mauritania’s largest ethnic group is the Bidhan<\/a>, or white moors who make up around half the population. The second-largest group is the Haratin<\/a>, or black moors who make up approximately one-third of the population. The rest of the population consists primarily of various sub-Saharan peoples<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite an abundance of natural resources, Mauritania remains poor. The country’s economy is based on agriculture and livestock, and major industries include mining (particularly iron ore), petroleum, and fishing.<\/p>\n After becoming independent from France in 1960, Mauritania’s independence has been characterized by recurrent coups and periods of authoritarian military rule, the most recent of which was in 2008<\/a> and led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. The 2019 Mauritanian presidential election was reported as the country’s first peaceful transition of power since independence.<\/p>\n Mauritania has been criticized for its poor human rights record, including for Mauritania’s continued practice of slavery, a result of the historical caste system, despite abolishing it in 1981 as the last country in the world to do so and criminalizing it in 2007. There have also been allegations of systematic torture by Mauritanian law enforcement.<\/p>\n The ancient tribes of Mauritania were Berber and Niger-Congo people. The Bafours<\/a> were primarily agricultural, and among the first Saharan people to abandon their historically nomadic lifestyle. With the gradual desiccation of the Sahara, they headed south. Many of the Berber tribes claimed Yemeni (and sometimes other Arab) origins. There is little evidence to support such claims, but a 2000 DNA study of Yemeni people suggested there might be some ancient connection between the peoples.<\/p>\n Other peoples also migrated south past the Sahara to West Africa. In 1076 the Almoravids<\/a> conquered the large area of the ancient Ghana Empire<\/a>. The Char Bouba war<\/a> (1644\u201374) was the unsuccessful final effort of the peoples to repel the Yemeni Maqil<\/a> Arab invaders. The invaders were led by the Beni Hassan<\/a> tribe. The descendants of the Beni Hassan warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish<\/a> society. Hassaniya<\/a>, a bedouin Arabic dialect that derives its name from the Beni Hassan, became the dominant language among the largely nomadic population.<\/p>\n France laid claim to the territories of present-day Mauritania from the Senegal River area and northwards, starting in the late 19th century. In 1901, Xavier Coppolani<\/a> took charge of the imperial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawaya<\/a> tribes, and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule over the Mauritanian emirates. Trarza<\/a>, Brakna<\/a> and Tagant<\/a> were occupied by the French armies in 1903\u201304, but the northern emirate of Adrar<\/a> held out longer, aided by the anti-colonial rebellion (or jihad) of shaykh Maa al-Aynayn<\/a>, as well by insurgents from Tagant and the other regions. Adrar was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania, which had been drawn up and planned in 1904. Mauritania was part of French West Africa<\/a> from 1920, as a protectorate and, then, a colony.<\/p>\n French rule brought legal prohibitions against slavery and an end to inter-clan warfare. During the colonial period, 90% of the population remained nomadic. Many sedentary peoples, whose ancestors had been expelled centuries earlier, began to trickle back into Mauritania. The previous capital of the country under the French rule, Saint-Louis<\/a>, was located in Senegal, so when the country gained independence in 1960, Nouakchott, at the time little more than a fortified village (“ksar”), was chosen as the site of the new capital of Mauritania.<\/p>\n After gaining independence, larger numbers of indigenous Sub-Saharan African peoples (Haalpulaar<\/a>, Soninke<\/a>, and Wolof<\/a>) entered Mauritania, moving into the area north of the Senegal River. Educated in French language and customs, many of these recent arrivals became clerks, soldiers, and administrators in the new state. This occurred as the French militarily suppressed the most intransigent Hassane tribes in the north. This changed the former balance of power, and new conflicts arose between the southern populations and Moors.<\/p>\n Mauritania became an independent nation in November 1960. In 1964 President Moktar Ould Daddah<\/a>, originally installed by the French, formalized Mauritania as a one-party state with a new constitution, setting up an authoritarian presidential regime. Daddah’s own Parti du Peuple Mauritanien (PPM) became the ruling organization in a one-party system. The President justified this on the grounds that Mauritania was not ready for western-style multi-party democracy. Under this one-party constitution, Daddah was reelected in uncontested elections in 1976 and 1978.<\/p>\n Daddah was ousted in a bloodless coup on 10 July 1978. He had brought the country to near-collapse through the disastrous war to annex the southern part of Western Sahara, framed as an attempt to create a “Greater Mauritania”.<\/p>\n The International Court of Justice<\/a> has concluded that in spite of some evidence of both Morocco’s and Mauritania’s legal ties prior to Spanish colonization, neither set of ties was sufficient to affect the application of the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples<\/a> to Western Sahara.<\/p>\n Mauritania, along with Morocco, annexed the territory of Western Sahara in 1976, with Mauritania taking the lower one-third at the request of Spain, a former imperial power. After several military losses from the Polisario<\/a> \u2013 heavily armed and supported by Algeria, the regional power and rival to Morocco \u2013 Mauritania withdrew in 1979. Its claims were taken over by Morocco.<\/p>\n 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 Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco, the UN still considers the Western Sahara a territory that needs to express its wishes with respect to statehood. A referendum, originally scheduled for 1992, is still supposed to be held at some point in the future, under UN auspices, to determine whether or not the indigenous Sahrawis wish to be independent, as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, or to be part of Morocco.<\/p>\n Col. Mustafa Ould Salek’s<\/a> CMRN<\/a> junta proved incapable of either establishing a strong base of power or extracting the country from its destabilizing conflict with the Sahrawi resistance movement, the Polisario Front. It quickly fell, to be replaced by another military government, the CMSN<\/a>.<\/p>\n The energetic Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah<\/a> soon emerged as its strongman. By giving up all claims to Western Sahara, he found peace with the Polisario and improved relations with its main backer, Algeria. But relations with Morocco, the other party to the conflict, and its European ally France deteriorated. Instability continued, and Haidallah’s ambitious reform attempts foundered. His regime was plagued by attempted coups and intrigue within the military establishment. It became increasingly contested due to his harsh and uncompromising measures against opponents; many dissidents were jailed, and some executed. In 1981 slavery was formally abolished by law, making Mauritania the last country in the world to do so.<\/p>\n Modern-day slavery still exists in different forms in Mauritania. According to some estimates, thousands of Mauritanians are still enslaved. A 2012 CNN report, “Slavery’s Last Stronghold,” by John D. Sutter, describes and documents the ongoing slave-owning cultures. This social discrimination is applied chiefly against the “black Moors” (Haratin) in the northern part of the country, where tribal elites among “white Moors” (Bidh’an, Hassaniya-speaking Arabs and Arabized Berbers) hold sway. Slavery practices exist also within the sub-Saharan African ethnic groups of the south.<\/p>\n In December 1984, Haidallah was deposed by Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya<\/a>, who, while retaining tight military control, relaxed the political climate. Ould Taya moderated Mauritania’s previous pro-Algerian stance, and re-established ties with Morocco during the late 1980s. He deepened these ties during the late 1990s and early 2000s as part of Mauritania’s drive to attract support from Western states and Western-aligned Arab states. Mauritania has not rescinded its recognition of Polisario’s Western Saharan exile government, and remains on good terms with Algeria. Its position on the Western Sahara conflict is, since the 1980s, one of strict neutrality.<\/p>\n Political parties, illegal during the military period, were legalized again in 1991. By April 1992, as civilian rule returned, 16 major political parties had been recognized; 12 major political parties were active in 2004. The Parti R\u00e9publicain D\u00e9mocratique et Social (PRDS), formerly led by President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya, dominated Mauritanian politics after the country’s first multi-party elections in April 1992, following the approval by referendum of the current constitution in July 1991. President Taya won elections in 1992 and 1997. Most opposition parties boycotted the first legislative election in 1992. For nearly a decade the parliament was dominated by the PRDS. The opposition participated in municipal elections in January\u2013February 1994, and in subsequent Senate elections \u2013 most recently in April 2004 \u2013 and gained representation at the local level, as well as three seats in the Senate.<\/p>\n This period was marked by extensive ethnic violence and human rights abuses. Between 1990 and 1991, a campaign of particularly extreme violence took place against a background of Arabization, interference with blacks’ association rights, expropriation and expatriation.<\/p>\n In October 1987, the government allegedly uncovered a tentative coup d’\u00e9tat by a group of black army officers, backed, according to the authorities, by Senegal. Fifty-one officers were arrested and subjected to interrogation and torture. Heightened ethnic tensions were the catalyst for the Mauritania\u2013Senegal Border War<\/a>, which started as a result of a conflict in Diawara between Moorish Mauritanian herders and Senegalese farmers over grazing rights. On 9 April 1989, Mauritanian guards killed two Senegalese.<\/p>\n Following the incident, several riots erupted in Bakel<\/a>, Dakar<\/a> and other towns in Senegal, directed against the mainly Arabized Mauritanians who dominated the local retail business. The rioting, adding to already existing tensions, led to a campaign of terror against black Mauritanians, who are often seen as ‘Senegalese’ by Bidha’an, regardless of their nationality. As low scale conflict with Senegal continued into 1990\/91, the Mauritanian government engaged in or encouraged acts of violence and seizures of property directed against the Halpularen ethnic group. The tension culminated in an international airlift agreed to by Senegal and Mauritania under international pressure to prevent further violence. The Mauritanian Government expelled tens of thousands of black Mauritanians. Most of these so-called ‘Senegalese’ had no ties to Senegal, and many have been repatriated from Senegal and Mali after 2007. The exact number of expulsions is not known but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that, as of June 1991, 52,995 Mauritanian refugees were living in Senegal and at least 13,000 in Mali.<\/p>\n A group of current and former Army officers launched a violent and unsuccessful coup attempt on 8 June 2003. The leaders of the attempted coup escaped from the country, but some of them were caught, later on. Mauritania’s presidential election, its third since adopting the democratic process in 1992, took place on 7 November 2003. Six candidates, including Mauritania’s first female and first Haratine (descended from the original inhabitants of the Tassili n’Ajjer and Acacus Mountains during the Epipalaeolithic era) candidates, represented a wide variety of political goals and backgrounds. Incumbent President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya won reelection with 67.0% of the popular vote, according to the official figures, with Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla finishing second.<\/p>\n On 3 August 2005, a military coup led by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall<\/a> ended Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya’s twenty-one years of rule.<\/p>\n Taking advantage of Taya’s attendance at the funeral of Saudi King Fahd<\/a>, the military, including members of the presidential guard, seized control of key points in the capital Nouakchott. The coup proceeded without loss of life. Calling themselves the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, the officers released the following statement:<\/p>\n “The national armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the oppressive activities of the defunct authority, which our people have suffered from during the past years.”<\/p>\n The Military Council later issued another statement naming Colonel Vall as president and director of the national police force, the S\u00fbret\u00e9 Nationale. Vall, once regarded as a firm ally of the now-ousted president, had aided Taya in the coup that had originally brought him to power, and had later served as his security chief. Sixteen other officers were listed as members of the Council.<\/p>\n Though cautiously watched by the international community, the coup came to be generally accepted, with the military junta organizing elections within a promised two-year timeline. In a referendum on 26 June 2006, Mauritanians overwhelmingly (97%) approved a new constitution which limited the duration of a president’s stay in office. The leader of the junta, Col. Vall, promised to abide by the referendum and relinquish power peacefully. Mauritania’s establishment of relations with Israel \u2013 it is one of only three Arab states to recognize Israel \u2013 was maintained by the new regime, despite widespread criticism from the opposition. They considered that position as a legacy of the Taya regime’s attempts to curry favor with the West.<\/p>\n Parliamentary and municipal elections in Mauritania took place on 19 November and 3 December 2006.<\/p>\n Mauritania’s first fully democratic presidential elections took place on 11 March 2007. The elections effected the final transfer from military to civilian rule following the military coup in 2005. This was the first time since Mauritania gained independence in 1960 that it elected a president in a multi-candidate election.<\/p>\n The elections were won in a second round of voting by Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi<\/a>, with Ahmed Ould Daddah<\/a> a close second.<\/p>\n On 6 August 2008, the head of the presidential guards took over the president’s palace in Nouakchott, a day after 48 lawmakers from the ruling party resigned in protest of President Abdallahi’s policies. The army surrounded key government facilities, including the state television building, after the president fired senior officers, one of them the head of the presidential guards. The President, Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghef<\/a>, and Mohamed Ould R’zeizim, Minister of Internal Affairs, were arrested.<\/p>\n The coup was coordinated by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz<\/a>, former chief of staff of the Mauritanian Army and head of the presidential guard, who had recently been fired. Mauritania’s presidential spokesman, Abdoulaye Mamadouba, said the President, Prime Minister, and Interior Minister had been arrested by renegade Senior Mauritanian army officers and were being held under house arrest at the presidential palace in the capital. In the apparently successful and bloodless coup, Abdallahi’s daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, said: “The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home and took away my father.” The coup plotters, all dismissed in a presidential decree shortly beforehand, included Abdel Aziz, General Muhammad Ould Al-Ghazwani, General Philippe Swikri, and Brigadier General (Aqid) Ahmad Ould Bakri.<\/p>\n After the coup, Abdel Aziz insisted on holding new presidential elections to replace Abdallahi, but was forced to reschedule them due to internal and international opposition. During the spring of 2009, the junta negotiated an understanding with some opposition figures and international parties. As a result, Abdallahi formally resigned under protest, as it became clear that some opposition forces had defected from him and most international players, notably including France and Algeria, now aligned with Abdel Aziz. The United States continued to criticize the coup, but did not actively oppose the elections.<\/p>\n Abdallahi’s resignation allowed the election of Abdel Aziz as civilian president, on 18 July, by a 52% majority. Many of Abdallahi’s former supporters criticized this as a political ploy and refused to recognize the results. They argued that the election had been falsified due to junta control, and complained that the international community had let down the opposition. Despite complaints, the elections were almost unanimously accepted by Western, Arab and African countries, which lifted sanctions and resumed relations with Mauritania.<\/p>\n In February 2011, the waves of the Arab Spring<\/a> spread to Mauritania, where thousands of people took to the streets of the capital.<\/p>\n Mauritania is in the western region of the continent of Africa, and is generally flat, its 1,030,700 square kilometers forming vast, arid plains broken by occasional ridges and clifflike outcroppings.<\/p>\n It borders the North Atlantic Ocean<\/a>, between Senegal<\/a> and Western Sahara<\/a>, Mali<\/a> and Algeria<\/a>. It is considered part of both the Sahel<\/a> and the Maghreb<\/a>. A series of scarps face southwest, longitudinally bisecting these plains in the center of the country. The scarps also separate a series of sandstone plateaus, the highest of which is the Adrar Plateau<\/a>, reaching an elevation of 500 metres. Spring-fed oases lie at the foot of some of the scarps. Isolated peaks, often rich in minerals, rise above the plateaus; the smaller peaks are called guelbs and the larger ones kedias. The concentric Guelb er Richat<\/a> is a prominent feature of the north-central region. Kediet ej Jill<\/a>, near the city of Zou\u00eer\u00e2t<\/a>, has an elevation of 1,000 meters and is the highest peak.<\/p>\n Approximately three-quarters of Mauritania is desert or semidesert. As a result of extended, severe drought, the desert has been expanding since the mid-1960s. The plateaus gradually descend toward the northeast to the barren El Djouf<\/a>, or “Empty Quarter,” a vast region of large sand dunes that merges into the Sahara Desert<\/a>. To the west, between the ocean and the plateaus, are alternating areas of clayey plains (regs) and sand dunes (ergs), some of which shift from place to place, gradually moved by high winds. The dunes generally increase in size and mobility toward the north.<\/p>\n Belts of natural vegetation, corresponding to the rainfall pattern, extend from east to west and range from traces of tropical forest along the S\u00e9n\u00e9gal River<\/a> to brush and savanna in the southeast. Only sandy desert is found in the center and north of the country.<\/p>\n Despite being rich in natural resources, Mauritania has a low GDP. A majority of the population still depends on agriculture and livestock for a livelihood, even though most of the nomads and many subsistence farmers were forced into the cities by recurrent droughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for almost 50% of total exports. Gold and copper mining companies are opening mines in the interior.<\/p>\n The country’s first deep-water port opened near Nouakchott in 1986. In recent years, drought and economic mismanagement have resulted in a buildup of foreign debt. In March 1999, the government signed an agreement with a joint World Bank<\/a>–International Monetary Fund<\/a> mission on a $54 million enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF). Privatization remains one of the key issues. Mauritania is unlikely to meet ESAF’s annual GDP growth objectives of 4\u20135%.<\/p>\n Oil was discovered in Mauritania in 2001 in the offshore Chinguetti field<\/a>. Although potentially significant for the Mauritanian economy, its overall influence is difficult to predict. Mauritania has been described as a “desperately poor desert nation, which straddles the Arab and African worlds and is Africa’s newest, if small-scale, oil producer.” There may be additional oil reserves inland in the Taoudeni basin<\/a>, although the harsh environment will make extraction expensive.<\/p>\n Citizens of Mauritania have various transportation methods. Railways and highways connect major cities in the country. Mauritania is a coastal country so there are many ports along its coast and there are a few big rivers that run through the country. Lastly, there are 26 airports spread out throughout the country.<\/p>\n There are 717 km total of single track 1,435 mm, owned and operated by a government mining company, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Nationale Industrielle et Mini\u00e8re (National Mining and Industrial Company, SNIM)<\/a>. The railway goes from the mines at Zouerat<\/a> and El Rhein, passes another mine at Fderik<\/a>, and ends at the port of Nouadhibou<\/a>\/Cansado<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the world’s longest trains (up to 2.5 km long) runs here, with more than 200 wagons mainly transporting iron ore, and some carriages for passengers; alternatively, people sit on top of the iron piles.<\/p>\n There are no rail links with adjacent countries.<\/p>\n In 2008, a railway was proposed that would link Nouakchott with Tiguint<\/a>, Mederdra<\/a>, R’Kiz<\/a>, Leguatt<\/a>, Leeleibatt, Menjem Boffal, Kaedi<\/a>, and Bofal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sudan’s Danfodio Holding and China’s Transtech Engineering have signed an agreement to build a 460 million euro ($634 million) railway linking Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott with southern phosphate deposits at Bofal. The 430 km (270 mi) line would run close to the southern frontier with Senegal<\/a>. It is hoped that the new line would link with existing lines just across the border in Senegal and Mali<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are 450 km of Motorway in Mauritania (in 2010), connecting Nouakchott to Nouadhibou along a coastal route. A motorway linking Nouakchott to Rosso<\/a> is under construction (due for completion in 2012).<\/p>\n Mauritania has only about 3,000 km (1,900 mi) of surfaced roads, 710 km (440 mi) of unsurfaced roads, and 5,140 km (3,190 mi) of unimproved tracks. The country’s size and harsh climate make road maintenance and repair especially problematic. Overland travel is difficult and roadside assistance is almost nonexistent. Public transportation is not safe and road conditions in Mauritania are poor, particularly in the interior. Driving in Mauritania can be treacherous, and many Mauritanians drive without regard to traffic signs or rules. Roadway obstructions and hazards caused by drifting sand, animals, and poor roads often plague motorists.<\/p>\n The Cairo-Dakar Highway<\/a> in the Trans-African Highway network passes through Mauritania, linking Nouakchott to Rabat, Tangiers, Algiers, and Tripoli. The section between the capital Nouakchott and the port of Nouadhibou was paved by 2018; only a few kilometres remain unpaved at the Moroccan border. From Dakar there are links throughout western Africa.<\/p>\n The north-western end of the Trans\u2013West African Coastal Highway is considered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to originate in Nouakchott.<\/p>\n The main airports are located in Nouakchott\u2013Oumtounsy International and Nouadhibou International<\/a>. There is a network of smaller domestic airports as well, 9 of which have paved runways.<\/p>\n The flag of Mauritania is a green field containing a gold star and crescent, with a red stripe at the top and bottom of the field. The original national flag was introduced under the instructions of President Moktar Ould Daddah<\/a> and the constitution of 22 March 1959 and was adopted on 1 April 1959.<\/p>\n On 5 August 2017, a referendum was held by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz<\/a> to change the national flag, abolish the senate, and other constitutional amendments. The referendum was successful, and the new flag, including two red stripes, which represent “the efforts and sacrifices that the people of Mauritania will keep consenting, to the price of their blood, to defend their territory”, was adopted in for its first raising on 28 November 2017, the 57th anniversary of Mauritania’s independence.<\/p>\n Green, gold and red are considered Pan-African colors. Green is also used to symbolize Islam, and the gold is for the sands of the Sahara desert. The red stripes, which were added to the flag in 2017, represent “the efforts and sacrifices that the people of Mauritania will keep consenting, to the price of their blood, to defend their territory”. The crescent and star are symbols of Islam, which is Mauritania’s state religion. Some writers have also speculated that green symbolizes a bright future and growth. There was no official specification or construction sheet for the exact relative measurements of the star and crescent, except the flag’s measurements of 2:3, until May 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag of Mauritania is a green field containing a gold star and crescent, with a red stripe at the top and bottom of the field. The original national flag was introduced under the instructions of President Moktar Ould Daddah and the constitution of 22 March 1959 and was adopted on 1 April 1959.<\/p>\n On 5 August 2017, a referendum was held by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to change the national flag, abolish the senate, and other constitutional amendments. The referendum was successful, and the new flag, including two red stripes, which represent “the efforts and sacrifices that the people of Mauritania will keep consenting, to the price of their blood, to defend their territory”, was adopted in for its first raising on 28 November 2017, the 57th anniversary of Mauritania’s independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,66,59,5,6,7,18,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Colonial History:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Ould Daddah Era (1960\u20131978):<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Conflict with Western Sahara:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>CMRN and CMSN Military Governments (1978\u20131984):<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Ould Taya’s rule (1984\u20132005):<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>August 2005 Military Coup:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>2007 Presidential Elections:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>2008 Military Coup:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>After the Coup:<\/h3>\n
Geography:<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a>Flag of Mauritania:<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>