The Moor (Maures), a people of mixed Arab-Berber descent, are a large, Sunni Muslim ethnic group of North Africa.
Since they are a migrating pastoral people, who move to find new pastures for their sheep, goats, cattle, and camels, it has been difficult to secure reliable population figures for them.
They are spread in some countries and their population accordind Peoplegroups.org, 2023 are:
Although most Moors still live as pastoralists in their movable tents of animal skins and grass matting, many now live and work in towns and cities. A few Moors also raise dates, vegetables, and wheat at oases. They have been known historically for their proclivity to raid neighbors for animals and slaves.
Generally, the term "Moor" refers to any individual, regardless of race, speaking a Hassaniya dialect. Their traditional life was a nomadic one.
Today, Moorish society is divided into four major elements, based on race, lineage, and occupation. The black Moors, known as sudan, occupy the lower stratum of Moorish society and often live as slaves, even though the institution of slavery has been outlawed throughout North Africa. Those Moors with a heavy black African background living in towns and cities constitute a desperately poor urban proletariat. Most Moors are faithful to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam.
Beidane or Bidān, also spelled Baydan or Beydan, is an Arabic term used in Mauritania to refer to lighter-skinned or "white Moors", in contrast to the term Haratine, which refers to those with a darker complexion or "black Moors". The Beidane, who are of mixed Arab and Berber ancestry, represent 30% of Mauritania's population. The language of the Beidane is Hassaniya Arabic. Al-Bidān (which literally translates to "Land of the whites") is an endonym used within Mauritania and Western 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.
"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 from North Africa in the medieval period and took control of parts of Malta, Sicily, Portugal, Spain, and the southern part of France. 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 by Italians and other Europeans to the north. The term largely fell out of use after the Middle Ages.
The Beidane people comprise roughly 30 percent of the population, making them the largest ethnic minority. Haratines (Black Moors) make up roughly 40 percent of the population and constitute the ethnic plurality. The remaining 30 percent are "Sub-Saharan Mauritanians," according to the 2023 CIA World Factbook entry on Mauritania.
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.
Since there is no ethnicity data on the Mauritanian census, the government has reported that the majority of the population (the 70% consisting of Beidane and Haratine peoples) as Maure, which means "speaker of Hassaniya Arabic." However, while most Beidane peoples would associate themselves with the term, the majority of Haratines would distance themselves from the term as they consider themselves a separate ethnic group. Haratines are almost exclusively of black African origin, but are closely aligned with the Moorish population in terms of language and culture. According to Amnesty 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.
The Haratin, also spelled Haratine or Harratin, are an ethnic group found in western Sahel and southwestern Maghreb. The Haratin are mostly found in modern Mauritania (where they form a plurality), Morocco, Western Sahara, Senegal, and Algeria. In Tunisia and Libya, they are referred to as Shwashin (Chouachin, Chouachine; singular: Shwashin, Chouchan).
The Haratin speak Maghrebi Arabic dialects. They have traditionally been characterized as the descendants of former sub-Saharan African slaves.
They form the single largest defined ethnolinguistic group in Mauritania where they account for 40% of the population (~1.5 million). In parts of Arab-Berber Maghreb, they are sometimes referred to as a "socially distinct class of workers".
The Haratin have been, and still commonly are socially isolated in some Maghrebi countries, living in segregated, Haratin-only ghettos. They are commonly perceived as an endogamous group of former slaves or descendants of slaves. They converted to Islam under the Arabs and Berbers and were forcibly recruited into the Moroccan army by Ismail Ibn Sharif (Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727) to consolidate power.
Traditionally, many Haratin have held occupations in agriculture – as serfs, herdsmen, and indentured workers.
The Haratin people are spread west of the Sahara Desert, mostly in Mauritania, Morocco, and Western Sahara. However, a small number are also spread across several countries, such as Senegal and Algeria.
In Mauritania, the Haratin form one of the largest ethnic groups and account for as much as 40% of the Mauritanians. They are sometimes referred to as "Black Moors", in contrast to Beidane, or "White Moors". The Haratin of Mauritania also primarily spoke Hassaniya Arabic.
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