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Mauritania: Religions & Peoples & Languages
RELIGIONS
Almost all of the population belongs to Sunni Islam, which is also the state religion. The law system is in most areas (except banking and insurance) based upon Sharia, Muslim law.
Most Moors belong to the Qadiriya Sufi order, while the Tukolor and some of the Moorish tribes in the Tagant area belong to the Tijaniya Sufi order.
PEOPLES
The Mauritanian population is very complex. The main division line runs between Blacks and Moors, but among the Moors a large part have dark complexions. White Moors are referred to as bidan. Moors are a mix of Arab and Berber origins. Black Moors have their ancestry in Sudan.
Black Moors have, and in many areas they still do, represnted the lower class. They have been divided into 2 groups: abid, slaves and haratani, freed slaves.
Other groups in Mauritania are the Tukolor, living in the Senegal River valley; Fulani dispersed all over the south; Soninke in the extreme south; Wolof who live around the city of Rosso.
About 47% of the population are registered as urban, 51% rural and 2% are nomads. But it must be underlined that cities of Mauritania in most cases are little developed, and is best compared to more densely rural areas in Western countries.
LANGUAGES
Moors speak Hassaniya Arabic, which is a form of Arabic with many Berber words. The grammar, however, is mainly Arabic. Hassaniya Arabic is one of Mauritania's 2 official languages.
French is the second official language of Mauritania. Both French and Arabic are widely used in schools and universties, as well as in media and administration.
Tukolor and Fulani peoples speak Fulfulde, while the Soninke speak Soninke and the Wolof speak Wolof. All these languages are national languages of Mauritania since 1991.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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