The Imraguen, or Imeraguen (Berber: Imrāgen singular: Amrig), are an ethnic group or tribe of Mauritania and Western Sahara. They were estimated at around 5,000 individuals in the 1970s. Most members of the group live in or nearby Mauritania's Banc d'Arguin National Park.

History

The name Imraguen (Berber orthography: imrāgen) is a Berber word meaning "fishermen", or "people who fish while walking on the sea", or "those who harvest life".

The Imraguen are believed to descend from the Bafour people. According to the Documentation of the human population of the territory, the Imraguen people lived on the Banc d'Arguin National Park for thousands of years, and its population had probably been larger. Some Imraguen populate the abandoned La Güera fort, which is also the south point of the Western Sahara zone claimed by Morocco.

Fishing

A few generations ago, the Imraguen people used to whistle the dolphins to bring them near the shore and catch all the mullets that always followed the dolphins.

| familycolor = afroasiatic

| family = Unclassified (Hassaniya Arabic variety with an Azer (Soninke) base per Ethnologue or Berber base per Fortier, Corinne 2004)

| iso3 = none

| iso3comment = ( deprecated in 2015 as spurious)

| glotto = imer1236

| glottorefname = Imeraguen

| ethnicity = Imraguen

The Imraguen speak Hassaniya Arabic with some Berber vocabulary related to fishing; their dialect is referred to as the Imraguen language.

Religion

The Imraguen are Muslims of the Sunni Maliki rite.

References

  • Banc d'Arguin National Park Protected Areas Programme