| 单词 | mauritania | |||||||||||
| 释义 | Mauritania Mau·ri·ta·ni·aM0159500 (môr′ĭ-tā′nē-ə, -tān′yə, mär′-)Mauritania(ˌmɒrɪˈteɪnɪə)Mau•ri•ta•ni•a(ˌmɔr ɪˈteɪ ni ə)n.
Mauritania→ 毛利塔尼亚zhCNMauritaniaMauritania(môrĭtā`nēə), officially Islamic Republic of Mauritania, republic (2015 est. pop. 4,182,000), 397,953 sq mi (1,030,700 sq km), NW Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Western Sahara in the northwest and north, on Algeria in the northeast, on Mali in the east and southeast, and on Senegal in the southwest. NouakchottNouakchott, city (1991 est. pop. 500,000), capital of Mauritania and Nouakchott dist., W Mauritania, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. Located between the Atlantic and the Sahara in a basin that is at or below sea level, Nouakchott was a small village until 1957, when it was chosen ..... Click the link for more information. is the capital and largest town. Other towns include Atar and Kaédi. Land and PeopleMost of Mauritania is made up of low-lying desert, which comprises part of the Sahara. Along the Senegal River (which forms the border with Senegal and is Mauritania's only perennial river) in the southwest is the semiarid Sahel with some fertile alluvial soil. A wide sandstone plateau (rising to c.1,500 ft/460 m) runs through the center of the country from north to south. In the southeast is the Hodh, a large basin in the desert. The majority of the population is of Berber, Arab, Tuareg, and Fulani descent, and many still live a nomadic or seminomadic existence. Those of Berber, Arab, and mixed Berber-Arab background are sometimes called Moors, Maurs, or Maures. The remainder of the population mostly belong to the Tukolor, Soninke, Bambara, and Wolof ethnic groups and live as sedentary agriculturalists near the Senegal River. Recurrent droughts in the late 20th cent. forced many nomads from the countryside into the urban area of Nouakchott. Virtually all the inhabitants of the country are Muslim, and many belong to the Qadiriyya brotherhood. The great majority of Mauritanians use Hasaniya Arabic, which, along with Wolof, is an official language. Other indigenous languages such as Pular and Soninke are also widely spoken. The country has a complex social caste system, with light-skinned Moors usually in positions of power and black Africans often at the bottom of the social ladder. In 1981, Mauritania became the world's last nation to officially ban slavery. Nonetheless, the United Nations and other groups report that slavery persists, with thousands of Haratines, the Arabicized Africans known as black Moors, held in involuntary servitude. In 2007 legislation was enacted that, for the first time, provided for criminal penalties for keeping slaves, but the customary nature of the slavery in the country and the general lack of enforcement of the antislavery laws has enabled slavery's persistence. EconomyMauritania's economy is sharply divided between a traditional agricultural sector and a modern mining industry that was developed in the 1960s. About half of the country's workers depend on either raising crops or pasturing livestock for their livelihood and are unaffected by the mining industry. The principal agricultural products, produced chiefly near the Senegal River and in scattered oases, are dates, millet, sorghum, rice, and corn. In times of drought food production levels can drop dangerously low. Cattle, sheep, goats, and camels are raised. There is an important fishing industry based in the Atlantic and on the Senegal River. Since 1980, all foreign commercial fishing in Mauitanian territorial waters must be carried out jointly with Mauritania; this policy has increased export earnings, but overfishing now threatens this source of revenue. A large deposit of high-grade iron ore was discovered in N Mauritania in the late 1950s, and production for export began in 1963. Foreign sales of iron ore account for about 40% of the country's export earnings. Gypsum, gold, copper, and salt are also mined. The difficult mining conditions with respect to the country's large copper ore reserves and low world commodity prices at times lead to occasional mine closures. There are also offshore oil deposits, which the country began exploiting in 2006. Fish processing is also important, and there is light manufacturing. The Trans-Mauritania highway connects the capital with the southeast regions. There is a deepwater port at Nouakchott. The chief exports, in addition to iron ore, are fish and fish products, gold, and cattle (the latter sent mainly to Senegal); the leading imports are machinery and equipment, petroleum products, capital and consumer goods, and food. The principal trade partners are France, Belgium, Japan, and Spain. Mauritania has a large foreign debt. GovernmentMauritania is governed under the constitution of 2006 as amended. The executive branch is headed by a president, who is popularly elected for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The prime minister is appointed by the president. The unicameral parliament consists of the 95-seat National Assembly; its members are popularly elected to five-year terms. Administratively, the country is divided into 12 regions and the capital district. HistoryEarly History through ColonialismBy the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. Sanhaja Berbers had migrated into Mauritania, pushing the black African inhabitants (especially the Soninké) southward toward the Senegal River. The Hodh region, which became desert only in the 11th cent., was the center of the ancient empire of GhanaGhana In the 11th cent. the AlmoravidAlmoravids From the 17th cent., Dutch, British, and French traders were active along the S Mauritanian coast; they were primarily interested in the gum arabic gathered near the Senegal River. Under Louis Faidherbe, governor of Senegal (1854–61; 1863–65), France gained control of S Mauritania. The region was declared a protectorate in 1903, but parts of the north were not pacified until the 1930s. Until 1920, when it became a separate colony in French West AfricaFrench West Africa, An Independent NationOn Nov. 28, 1960, Mauritania became fully independent. Its leader at independence was Makhtar Ould DaddahDaddah, Moktar Ould The 1960s were marked by tensions between the black Africans of the south and the Arabs and Berbers of central and N Mauritania, some of whom sought to join Mauritania with Morocco. By the early 1970s the main conflicts in the country were over economic and ideological rather than ethnic matters, as dissident workers and students protested what they considered an unfair wage structure and an undue concentration of power in Ould Daddah's hands. The long-term drought in the semiarid Sahel region in the south, which lasted from the late 1960s into the 1980s, caused the death of about 80% of the country's livestock, as well as extremely poor harvests in the Senegal River region. Ould Daddah attempted to act as a bridge between N Africa and black Africa and in the early 1970s was on good terms with Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco as well as with the black African nations of Senegal and Liberia. In 1973, Mauritania became a member of the Arab League. In the same year the country began to loosen its ties with France by withdrawing from the Franc Zone and establishing its own currency. In 1976, when Spain relinquished control of Spanish Sahara, the territory became Western SaharaWestern Sahara, Ould Daddah's regime was overthrown in 1978, and Lt. Col. Mustapha Ould Mohamad Salek assumed power, promising to end involvement in the war. Salek's proposed Arabization of the country's educational system made him many enemies in the African community. He resigned and was succeeded by Lt. Col. Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly in 1979. In that year, Mauritania, under pressure from the Polisario Front, renounced all claims to Western Sahara. In 1980, Ould Louly was overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Lt. Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Heydalla. In 1981, Mauritania severed diplomatic relations with Morocco after it appeared Morocco had engineered a coup attempt against Heydalla. In 1984, Lt. Col. Maaouiya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya overthrew Heydalla's regime. Taya restored relations with Morocco in 1985. In 1989, racial tensions between blacks and Moors reached new heights as 40,000 black Senegalese workers were driven out of the country. Rioting resulted, tens of thousands of black Mauritanians were forced from their land by the military (many of whom fled to Senegal), and Mauritania broke off diplomatic relations with Senegal. In 1991 a new constitution providing for multiparty rule was approved by referendum. President Taya was reelected in 1992 and 1997, amid allegations of fraud. In 1993 the United States stopped development aid to Mauritania in protest against the country's oppression of its black citizens and its support of Iraq during the Persian Gulf WarPersian Gulf Wars, Taya survived a coup attempt in June, 2003. In the Nov., 2003, presidential elections he received 66.7% of the vote; his nearest challenger, former president Heydalla, almost 19%. Despite new voting safeguards designed to prevent vote-rigging, there were again accusations of fraud. Heydalla was arrested after the election on charges of plotting a coup, which he denied. He received a suspended five-year sentence in December, and as a result of the sentence he lost his political and civil rights for five years. In Aug. and Sept., 2004, Mauritanian officials said they had foiled two more coup plots. At the same time, locusts ravaged a large portion of the nation's agricultural land, leading to concerns of a possible food crisis. In Aug., 2005, while President Taya was abroad, the long-time national security chief, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall led a coup that replaced Taya with a 17-member military council headed by Vall. The coup was quickly denounced by the African Union, United States, and others, but after the council promised to hold democratic legislative elections within two years the objections ended. Mauritanians generally greeted the Taya's overthrow with celebration, and opposition groups with qualified approval. In 2006 voters approved a new constitution limiting a president to two five-year terms in office. In the legislative elections (Nov.–Dec., 2006) a coalition of former opposition parties won the largest bloc of seats, followed by independents, but no group won a majority. Senatorial elections were held in Jan., 2007, and in March Sidi Ould Cheikh AbdallahiAbdallahi, Sidi Ould Cheikh Aziz resigned from the military and the government in Apr., 2009, in order to run for president; Senate President Ba Mamadou Mbare became interim head of state. In June, 2009, a settlement negotiated as a prelude to new elections led to the formation of a power-sharing government that included military- and opposition-appointed members. As part of the agreement Abdallahi appointed the interim government and then officially resigned as president. The presidential election in July, 2009, resulted in a victory for Aziz, with more than 52% of the vote, but the main opposition candidates rejected the results. The president was injured in a shooting in Oct., 2012, reportedly accidentally, though some reports suggested it might have been an assassination attempt. The president's party, Union for the Republic (UPR), won a majority of the seats in the legislature in the Nov.–Dec., 2013, elections, with its allies winning additional seats, but all but one of the parties in the 11-party opposition alliance boycotted the vote. The opposition also boycotted the June, 2014, presidential election, in which Aziz was easily reelected, and the Aug., 2017, referendum that abolished the country's senate. In the Sept., 2018, legislative elections, which the opposition did not boycott, the UPR again won a majority. BibliographySee R. N. Westebbe, The Economy of Mauritania (1971); A. G. Gerteiny, Historical Dictionary of Mauritania (1981). MauritaniaOfficial name: Islamic Republic of Mauritania Capital city: Nouakchott Internet country code: .mr Flag description: Green with a yellow five-pointed star above a yellow horizontal crescent; the closed side of the crescent is down; the crescent, star, and color green are traditional symbols of Islam National anthem: lyrics taken from poem by Baba Ould Cheikh Geographical description: Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Senegal and Western Sahara Total area: 419,212 sq. mi. (1,030,070 sq. km.) Climate: Desert; constantly hot, dry, dusty Nationality: noun: Mauritanian(s); adjective: Mauritanian Population: 3,270,065 (July 2007 CIA est.) Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber (White Moor), Arab-Berber-Negroid (Black Moor), Haalpulaar, Soninke, Wolof (Black African Mauritanians) Languages spoken: Arabic (official), Hassaniya (Arabic dialect), French, Pulaar, Wolof, and Soninke Religions: Muslim 100% Legal Holidays:
MauritaniaMauritania
Synonyms for Mauritania
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Mauritania - a country in northwestern Africa with a provisional military government; achieved independence from France in 1960; largely western Sahara Desert