On the Tagant plateau, at the crossroads of the caravan routes, Ksar el-Barka occupies a remarkable site, on the northern bank of the Oued el-Abiod, a major tributary of Lake Gabou, where a large part of the surface waters of Tagant come together. Ksar el-Barka shelters the vestiges of a fortified city founded by the Kunta who came from Ouadane in 1690 and who settled there.Abandoned city. Destroyed and rebuilt many times, the city is now completely abandoned, not having had the chance, like others, to see a new city develop near the ruins of the old one. Some of the houses, many of them multi-story dry-stone, are still in fairly good condition, with their clay-plastered walls with triangular or partitioned niches. One can clearly distinguish the old alleys, and the mosque which has remained practically intact, except for the roof and the minaret which have disappeared. After having taken care to make some noise to keep away the unwanted bugs, it is moving to penetrate inside the mosque to admire its imposing cylindrical columns which really did not leave much room for the faithful who came to pray there. This city has shown a great patrimonial interest because of the diversity and the number of the identified and listed manuscripts at the nationals of this almost forgotten village. Numerous Neolithic sites and multiple rock paintings are observable around.Destruction. From 1820, the war between the Kunta and the Ahl Sidi Mahmoud and the Ahl Mohamed Cheïne led in 1822-1823 to the destruction of Ksar el-Barka and Rachid (a neighboring palm grove founded by the Kunta in 1723), an episode unfortunately followed by a smallpox epidemic throughout the Tagant. In February 1905, the French occupation forces, under the orders of the general delegate of the colonial administration Xavier Coppolani, occupied Ksar el-Barka and built a fortified building that served as a cereal reservoir for the supply of French troops based in Tidjikdja.In 1914, the colonial administration acceded to an old desire of the tribal chief of the time, Sidi Mhammed Ould Sidi Ahmed Ould Ahmed, to partially rebuild the city whose last destruction he lived. Thus, the mosque was restored, a hundred houses were rebuilt and several water points were created in the various palm groves established on the banks of the wadi. But this effort of revival was soon compromised by the appearance of new means of transport and communication, both maritime and terrestrial.Safeguarding program. The rise of these new trade routes dried up the caravan trade and the region of the ksar, which gradually emptied of its inhabitants, some of whom came, at the end of the 1950s, during the construction of the pass of Moudjeria (leading to the final road bypass of Ksar el-Barka), to settle in Nbeika.A program to protect and safeguard the city, set up by the government, is currently underway.(Text by Bruno Lamarche and Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh for Détours Mauritanie Voyage).

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