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The Emirate of Trarza was a precolonial state in what is today southwest Mauritania, which has survived as a traditional confederation of semi-nomadic peoples to the present day. Its name is shared with the modern Region of Trarza. The population, a mixture of Berber tribes, were later conquered by Hassaniya Arabic speakers from the north. Europeans called these people Moors/Maures, and thus have titled this group the Trarza Moors.
Trarza, founded in the midst of the final wars between the local Berber Bedouins and the Arab conquerors of the Maghrib, was a semi-nomadic state led by a Muslim prince, or Emir. Trarza was one of three powerful emirates controlling the northwest bank of the Senegal river from the 17th to the 19th centuries CE: the Trarza, the Emirate of Brakna, and the Emirate of Tagant.