Editing History of Mauritania (section)

==Early history==
{{main|Precolonial Mauritania}}

The [[Sahara]] has linked rather than divided the peoples who inhabit it and has served as an avenue for migration and conquest. Mauritania, lying next to the Atlantic coast at the western edge of the desert, received and assimilated into its complex society many waves of these migrants and conquerors.

What is now Mauritania was a dry savanna area during [[classical antiquity]], where independent tribes like the Pharusii and the Perorsi (and the Nigritae near the Niger river) lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle facing growing [[desertification]].

[[Roman Empire|The Romans]] [[Romans in sub-Saharan Africa|explored]] toward this area and probably reached, with [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus|Suetonius Paulinus]], the area of [[Adrar Plateau|Adrar]]. There is evidence (coins, fibulas) of Roman commerce in [[Akjoujt]] and Tamkartkart near [[Tichit]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gB6DcMU94GUC&q=roman+casablanca&pg=PA515 |title=Sahara in classical antiquity: Map of Roman presence and archeological findings in the Western Sahara region (p. 514) |year=1981 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=9780435948054 |access-date=2016-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401145552/https://books.google.com/books?id=gB6DcMU94GUC&pg=PA515&lpg=PA515&dq=roman+casablanca&source=bl&ots=VZOUuNtdVj&sig=aLyuhpVSvx4Xo-B5TiC9XxK97OA&hl=en&ei=L5nITMyPKcP68AbTjrUL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=roman%20casablanca&f=false |archive-date=2017-04-01 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Berbers]] moved south to Mauritania beginning in the 3rd century, followed by [[Arabs]] in the late 7th century, subjugating and assimilating Mauritania's original inhabitants. From the 8th through the 15th century, black kingdoms of the western [[Sudan (region)|Sudan]], such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, brought their political culture from the south.<ref name=cs>Warner, Rachel. "Historical setting". In [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mrtoc.html ''Mauritania: A Country Study''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060610063628/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mrtoc.html |date=2006-06-10 }} (Robert E. Handloff, editor). [[Library of Congress]] [[Federal Research Division]] (June 1988). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.''</ref>

The divisive tendencies of the various groups within Mauritanian society have always worked against the development of Mauritanian unity. Both the [[Sanhaja|Sanhadja Confederation]], at its height from the 8th to the 10th century, and the [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravid Empire]], from the 11th to the 12th century, were weakened by internecine warfare, and both succumbed to further invasions from the [[Ghana Empire]] and the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad Empire]], respectively.<ref name=cs/>