Imraguen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Imraguen are an ethnic group or tribe of Mauritania and Western Sahara. Estimated at around 5000 in the 1970s, [1] most members of the group live in fishing villages on the Banc d'Arguin National Park on the Atlantic coast of Mauritania.
They are believed to have Sanhadja Berber origins, although strongly mixed with Black African populations, mainly escaped slaves or the Haratin freedmen accepted into the tribe. The name "Imraguen" itself is a Berber word meaning "fishermen". They are Muslims of the Sunni Maliki rite, and speak Hassaniya Arabic, although they are also known to have preserved elements of the Soninké language, reflecting their Black African heritage.
Militarily powerless, they were traditionally were reduced to the degrading lower-caste status of Znaga, forcibly ruled and taxed (horma) by more powerful Hassane and Zawia tribes such as the Oulad Delim and Ouled Bou Sbaa.
[edit] External Links
- Banc d'Arguin National Park Protected Areas Programme
- Banc d'Arguin - The Imraguen guards of culture and nature - by Afrol News
[edit] Notes/references
- ^ Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff, The Western Saharans, 1980, ISBN 0-7099-0369-3, page 50
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