Beidane orBidān, also spelled Baydan or Beydan (Arabic:بيضان), is an Arabic term[note 1] used inMauritania to refer to lighter-skinned or "whiteMoors", in contrast to the termHaratine, which refers to those with a darker complexion or "black Moors". The Beidane, who are of mixedArab andBerber ancestry, represent 30% ofMauritania's population.[1][2] The language of the Beidane isHassaniya Arabic. Al-Bidān (which literally translates to "Land of the whites") is anendonym used within Mauritania andWestern Sahara by the Bidān people to refer to themselves. The name used by outsiders to refer to the Beydane is Moors from which the country of Mauritania derives its name from the Latin designation of their inhabitants (Mauri) as the Bidan form the majority of the population.[citation needed]
"Moor" is not the term for a specific ethnic group, but rather the term used by the European Christians in reference to the Arab populations that hailed fromNorth Africa in themedieval period and took control of parts ofMalta,Sicily,Portugal,Spain, and the southern part ofFrance. Another term used in reference to Arabs at this time was "Saracen". This was largely used to refer to the peoples of the entire Arab Islamic empire, mostly byItalians and otherEuropeans to the north. The term largely fell out of use after the Middle Ages.[citation needed]
The Beidane people comprise roughly 30 percent of the population,[3] making them the largest ethnic minority.Haratines (Black Moors) make up roughly 40 percent of the population and constitute the ethnic plurality.[3] The remaining 30 percent are "Sub-Saharan Mauritanians," according to the 2023CIA World Factbook entry on Mauritania.[3]
Within Mauritanian society, there remains minority control of the country, with the Beidane (white Moors) controlling the national economy as well as a significant majority of the state including but not limited to the government, military, and the police force.[4]
Since there is no ethnicity data on the Mauritanian census, the government has reported[when?] that the majority of the population (the 70% consisting of Beidane and Haratine peoples) asMaure, which means "speaker ofHassaniya Arabic." However, while most Beidane peoples would associate themselves with the term, the majority ofHaratines would distance themselves from the term as they consider themselves a separate ethnic group.[5] Haratines are almost exclusively of black African origin, but are closely aligned with the Moorish population in terms of language and culture. According toAmnesty International "they have lost virtually every aspect of their African origins except their skin color." Their Moorish culture and their language are the result of generations of enslavement. They are thus referred to as "black Moors" to differentiate them from the "white Moors" who enslaved them, and from black Mauritanians who have not been enslaved by the Moors.[6]
The nation has a long and extensive history of enslavement and racial slavery, with the Beidane or "white Moor" peoples historically ruling over the "black Moor" population.[7][8]
During Frenchcolonial rule of Mauritania, France declared in 1905 that it would put an end to slavery in the country.[7] The colonial power however, neglected to enforce such a decree and it was only officially outlawed in 1981, making it the last nation in the world to make such a law.[7]
According to theUnrepresented Nations and People Organization (UNPO), Mauritania passed a 2007 law that criminalized the possession of slaves as well as making special provisions and rules for the payment of slaves via their masters.[9] This law, however, did not deter the owning and trading of slaves in Mauritania, and in an independent report from a United Nations independent expert,Gulnara Shahinian (the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery), she states "There are all forms of slavery in Mauritania. There is child labor, domestic labor, child marriages and human trafficking."[10] She estimates that roughly 18 percent of Mauritania's current population of around 3.5 million people are enslaved as of 2009.[10]
While slavery has officially been abolished by law in 1981, many Mauritanians, specifically theHaratine plurality, remain stuck in a "slave limbo" similar toindentured servitude, where they continue to be socio-economically dependent on the Beidane "masters" due to their position within the societal hierarchy.[11]