Emirate of Trarza
Emirate of Trarza إمارة ترارزة | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1640–1902 | |||||||
Trarza ca. 1850 | |||||||
| Capital | Mederdra, Rosso | ||||||
| Official languages | Arabic | ||||||
| Common languages | Hassaniya, Zenaga, Wolof | ||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||
| Emir | |||||||
| Historical era | Early Modern Period | ||||||
• Confederation founded | 1640 | ||||||
• Declared a French protectorate | 1902 | ||||||
| |||||||
The Emirate of Trarza (arabic: إمارة ترارزة) was a pre-colonial state in what is today southwest Mauritania. It has survived as a traditional confederation of semi-nomadic people to the present day. Its name is shared with the modern Region of Trarza. The population, a mixture of Berber tribes, had been there for a long time before being conquered in the 11th century by Hassaniya Arabic speakers from the north.
Europeans later called these people Moors/Maures, and thus have titled this group "the Trarza Moors".