Aoukar Explained

Aoukar
Native Name:	عوكر
Native Name Lang:	ar
Settlement Type:	Natural region
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Name:	Mauritania
Elevation M:	240
Population Density Km2:	auto

Aoukar or Erg Aoukar^[1] is a geological depression area of south eastern Mauritania. It is located between Kiffa and Néma, south of the Tagant Plateau. The region is also referred to as Hodh or .^[2]

The Aoukar basin is a dry natural region of sand dunes and salt pans fringed by escarpments on its northern and eastern sides.

History

There was once vast reed-covered endorheic lake in the area, but it no longer exists. The former lake of Aoukar extended towards the area of Tichit, bordering the southern edge of the Tagant Plateau. Below the cliffs (dhars) facing the extinct lake remains of about 400 villages have been found.^{[3] [4]}

From east to west, Dhar Néma, Dhar Walata, Dhar Tichitt, and Dhar Tagant form a semicircular shape around the Hodh/Aoukar Depression, which, prior to 4000 BCE, was an area with lakes of considerable size, and, after 1000 BCE, was an area that had become increasingly dried.^[5] During the emergence of the Tichitt Tradition, it was an oasis area. The Tichitt Tradition of eastern Mauritania dates from 2200 BCE^{[6] [7]} to 200 BCE.^{[8] [9]}

Previously administered as part of French Sudan (present-day Mali), the area was transferred to French Mauritania in 1944, apparently on a whim of the colonial governor Laigret.^[10] The transfer was still resented upon Mali's independence.^[11] Formerly more fertile, it is now largely a barren waste.^[12]

Aoukar/Hodh gave its name to the modern Mauritanian regions of Hodh Ech Chargui and Hodh El Gharbi.

Ecology

The Aoukar is one of the few natural refuges for the addax, a critically endangered kind of antelope which lives in the region.^[13]

See also

• Geography of Mauritania
• List of ergs

External links

• Mauritania - crossing the Aoukar basin

18°N -39°W

Notes and References

1. Marco Stoppato, Alfredo Bini (2003), Deserts, p. 156
2. [Henry Barth|Barth, Henry]
3. Web site: Tichit - The living ghost of yesterday's glory . 2014-08-13 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093916/http://looklex.com/mauritania/tichit.htm . dead .
4. G. Marcus and B. de Valicourt (2000). Mauritanie, p. 10
5. MacDonald . Kevin C. . Vernet . Robert . Martinón-Torres . Marcos . Fuller . Dorian Q. . Dhar Néma: from early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania . Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa . April 2009 . 44 . 1 . 3–48 . 10.1080/00671990902811330 .
6. Book: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.285 . Saharan Peoples and Societies . Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History . 2019 . McDougall . E. Ann . 978-0-19-027773-4 .
7. Holl . Augustin F.C. . Coping with uncertainty: Neolithic life in the Dhar Tichitt-Walata, Mauritania, (ca. 4000–2300 BP) . Comptes Rendus. Géoscience . 25 June 2009 . 341 . 8–9 . 703–712 . 10.1016/j.crte.2009.04.005 . 2009CRGeo.341..703H .
8. Book: MacDonald . K. . Vernet . R. . Early domesticated pearl millet in Dhar Nema (Mauritania): evidence of crop processing waste as ceramic temper . 2007 . Barkhuis . Netherlands . 71–76 . 9789077922309 .
9. Kay . Andrea U. . Diversification, Intensification and Specialization: Changing Land Use in Western Africa from 1800 BC to AD 1500 . Journal of World Prehistory . 2019 . 32 . 2 . 179–228 . 10.1007/s10963-019-09131-2 . 134223231 . free . 10230/44475 . free .
10. Lalonde, Suzanne. Determining Boundaries in a Conflicted World: The Role of Uti Possidetis, p. 109. McGill-Queen's University Press (Montreal), 2002. Accessed 18 Apr 2014.
11. Touval, Saadia. The Boundary Politics of Independent Africa, p. 247. iUniverse, 1999. . Accessed 18 Apr 2014.
12. Morgan, William & al. West Africa, pp. 254 ff. Methuen, 1973.
13. https://books.google.com/books?id=8-GCQyrotgMC&dq=Aoukar+addax&pg=PT326 Richard Trillo, The Rough Guide to West Africa