Haratin (also transliterated Haratins, Harratins or Haratine, etc, singular Hartani) is a Saharan / Sahelian word of obscure origin applied mainly in Mauritania, southern Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Senegal and Mali to largely sedentary oasis-dwelling black populations speaking either Berber or Arabic dialects. In Mauritania in particular it is used to refer to an Arabicised and Islamised former black slave class of uncertain modern status.

The populations called Haratine appear to be a mix of indigenous black populations that became Berberised and descendants of free sub-Saharan African slaves, and/or the children of said slaves and the lighter skinned Arab or Berber ruling class.

The name itself is of obscure origin and has been variously traced to Arabic roots meaning cultivator and Berber roots meaning "dark skinned".

Haratins in Mauritania

---

In Mauritania the Haratin form one of the largest ethnic groups and account for as much as 40% of the population, and sometimes referred to as "Black Moors". Although the Mauretanian government has issued several emancipation declarations, most recently in the 1980s, reports persist of Haratin effectively continuing in slave status or at least indentured servitude. The status of the Haratin remains one of the biggest political and human rights problem in this country according to international human rights organizations. They should not be confused with the Black African populations in southern Mauritania, of Wolof or Fula backgrounds.

Haratins in Morocco and Western Sahara

---

In Morocco, the word Haratin tends to be applied to the dark-skinned agriculturalists of the southern oases, stretching towards Western Sahara, who largely identify as Chleuh berbers, although some native Arabic speakers also exist. In some Moroccan oral history traditions, the Haratin of the south eastern oases were the 'original' inhabitants. The term is used separately from that of Gnawa, which tends to refer to a clearly former sub-Saharan slaves and to a somewhat distinct cultural and religious movement composed of Sufi turuq (orders or brotherhoods) and music groups that has began to include different ethnicities. As Moroccan society has modernised and urbanised, the categories have broken down with inter-marriage and rural to urban migration.

Slavery | Ethnic groups in Mauritania | Ethnic groups in Morocco | Ethnic groups in Algeria | Ethnic groups in Western Sahara | Ethnic groups in Senegal | Ethnic groups in Mali

Haratin

References

---

"They claim precedence as the valley’s first inhabitants and say that the whites, originally nomads, came later to abuse their hospitality and treat them as slaves." - EnNaji, 1998.

Literature

---

• Hsain Ilahiane, The Power of the Dagger, the Seeds of the Koran, and the Sweat of the Ploughman: Ethnic Stratification and Agricultural Intensification in the Ziz Valley, Southeast Morocco 107 n.7 (1998) (unpublished dissertation, Univ. of Arizona)
• Chouki El Hamel, "‘Race,’ Slavery and Islam in the Maghribi Mediterranean Thought: The Question of the Haratin in Morocco", 7 Journal North African Studies 29, 38 (Autumn 2002).
• Aziz Abdalla Batrán, "The 'Ulamá of Fas, Mulay Isma'il, and the Issue of the Haratin of Fas," in John Ralph Willis, ed., Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa, vol.i, Islam and the Ideology of Enslavement, 125-59, London: Frank Cass, 1985.
• Remco Ensel, Saints and Servants in Southern Morocco (Leiden: Brill, 1999).
• J O Hunwick "Black Slaves in the Mediterranean World: introduction to a Neglected Aspect of the African Diaspora" Journal of African History
• Mohammed EnNaji, Serving The Master: Slavery & Society in Nineteenth-Century Morocco p. 62 (Seth Graebner trans., St. Martin’s Press 1998).
• Tony Hodges (1983), Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill Books (ISBN 0882081527)