Chemama is the name of the region along the Northern bank of the

Senegal River ,french: Fleuve Sénégal) , name_etymology = , image = Senegal River Saint Louis.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Fishermen on the bank of the Senegal River estuary at the outskirts of Saint-Louis, Senegal ...

, in

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

: a fertile band of land extending sixteen to thirty-two kilometers north of the river and containing alluvial soil. It is the only agricultural region in the country. The Chemama region has a rainy season that stretches from May to September. The region's average annual precipitation ranges from 300 to 600 mm (12 to 24 inches) per year. The population in this region is a potentially volatile mixture of ethnic

Maures The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or s ...

from the

n heartland and of Black African peoples linked to the nations to the south. The cities of Rosso and Kaedi are among the largest settlements. During the colonial era, there would be periodic raids by Maures on the towns of the region. The region became the center of ethnic conflict once again during the late 1980s, with significant displacement of the black population into neighboring Senegal in 1989.

References

Library of Congress on Chemama
Regions of Africa Geography of Mauritania {{Mauritania-geo-stub