Haratin

Haratin / Haratine

Haratin girl from Morocco.
Total population
> 1.5 million
Regions with significant populations
Mauritania (40%)  Morocco  Western Sahara  Algeria  Tunisia  Libya
Languages
Hassaniya Arabic
Religion
Sunni Islam

Haratin, also referred to as Harratins, Haratine or Hartani are oasis-dwellers in the Sahara, especially in northwestern Africa. They are particularly found in Mauritania, Morocco and Western Sahara. They are of black heritage, make up an ethnically distinct group of largely settled, non-nomadic workers, and with 40% of Mauritania total population, they are its largest ethnic group. They have been called a socially distinct class of workers, or a caste that emerged from a legacy of slavery in Africa under the Berbers and Moors.

They have been socially isolated, low status, endogamous people who were former slaves or descendants of slaves. Most originated from Sahel and sub-Saharan region of West Africa. They adopted Islam under the Moors, and were forcibly recruited into the Moroccan army by Ismail Ibn Sharif to consolidate power. Their primary occupation has been as agriculture serfs, herdsmen and subservient workers, and they speak Hassaniya Arabic.

The word Haratin has been traced to two roots. The first root is from haratine, the Arabic word for "plowmen". The second etymology is based from the Berber word ahardan referring to skin color, more specifically "dark color".

The origins of the Haratin people are in various black African ethnic groups in the sub-Saharan and Sahel regions of West Africa, such as Bambara, Soninke and others. They were raided or captured during war and brought into the Saharan lands as slaves. Their ancestors and they have worked in arable lands particularly around the oases across the Sahara. They adopted the language and culture of the people who owned them, and they now speak Berber or Arabic. In countries such as Morocco, they are sometimes classified either as Berber or Arab, depending on their language and society they are found in. In Mauritania, however, where there are nearly 1.5 million Haratins, they have developed a separate sense of ethnic identity.

They have historically inherited their slave status and family occupation, have been endogamous and socially segregated. Some communities differentiated two types of slaves, one called `Abid or "slave" and Haratin or "freed slave". However, states John Shoup – a professor of Anthropology, both 'Abid and Haratin were not free to own land or had equivalent property rights. Regardless of whether they were technically free or not, they were treated as socially inferior in the communities they lived in. Being denied the right and the ability to own any land, they historically survived by accepting a patron-client serf relationship either as domestic servant or as share-cropping labor (khammasin).