Editing History of Western Sahara (section)

===Contacts with Roman Empire===
[[Pliny the Elder|Plinius]] wrote that the coastal area north of the [[Senegal River|river Senegal]] and south of the [[Atlas Mountains]] was populated, during [[Augustus]] times, by the ''Pharusii'' and ''Perorsi'',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_QRAAAAYAAJ&q=pharusii%20mauretania&pg=PR10 |title=Map with indication of the Pharusii and Perorsi|year=1832}}</ref>

{{Quote|''In the year 41 AD Suetonius Paullinus, afterwards Consul, was the first of the Romans who led an army across Mount Atlas. At the end of a ten days' march he reached the summit,—which even in summer was covered with snow,—and from thence, after passing a desert of black sand and burnt rocks, he arrived at a river called Gerj...he then penetrated into the country of the Canarii and Perorsi, the former of whom inhabited a woody region abounding in elephants and serpents, and the latter were Ethiopians, not far distant from the Pharusii and the river Daras (modern river Senegal)''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Pliny the Elder|journal=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London|volume= 1-10|publisher= Royal Geographical Society |location=Great Britain|page= 7}}</ref>}}

What is now Western Sahara was a dry [[savanna]] area during [[classical antiquity]], where independent tribes like the Pharusii and the Perorsi led a [[semi-nomadic]] life facing growing [[desertification]].

[[Roman Empire|Romans]] made [[Roman expeditions to Sub-Saharan Africa|explorations]] toward this area and probably reached, with [[Suetonius Paulinus]], the area of [[Adrar plateau|Adrar]]. There is evidence (e.g., coins, [[fibula]]s) 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 |year= 1981 |page= 514|publisher= Univ of California Press |isbn= 978-0-435-94805-4 }}</ref>

The western Sahara population (in those first centuries of the Roman Empire) consisted of nomads (mainly of the [[Sanhaja]] [[tribalism|tribal]] confederation) in the plains and sedentary populations in river valleys, in oases, and in towns like Awdaghust, Tichitt, Oualata, Taghaza, Timbuktu, [[Awlil]], Azuki, and Tamdult.

Some [[Berber people|Berber tribes]] moved to [[Mauritania]] in the third and fourth century, and after the 13th century some Arabs entered the region as conquerors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Africa - From the Arab conquest to 1830 {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Africa/From-the-Arab-conquest-to-1830 |access-date=2022-06-20 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2011}}