Oualata
The culturally most important city in Mauritania's south has had many names in the course of its long and eventful history. Walāta, Guelata, Iwalatan, Oualet and also Bīru. Along with Chinguetti, Ouadane and Tichitt, Oualata has held UNESCO World Heritage Site status since 1996. Long before the city was founded, the Dār Oualata, as part of the Tichitt culture, was the site of thousands of years of settlement on the edges of the Aoukar Depression. Arrowheads and rubbing bowls can still be found in the area today. Finally, Oualata was probably founded in the 7th century as part of the Ghana Empire. Unlike the cities in the Adrar region, Oualata was never in the Almoravid sphere of influence and was instead much more influenced by its proximity to the Mali Empire. Woven into a network that stretched culturally and economically from Timbuktu to Tunis, the town was one of the most important in trans-Saharan trade, at times even a small kingdom of its own. The trade of gold, salt, dates and clothes but also slaves was carried out here. The wealth attracted scholars and pilgrims who started the Hajj to Mecca from here. It took 6 months by camel. But even today, the numerous richly decorated adobe buildings bear witness to former wealth. Wall paintings and ornaments on doors and house walls are style-defining for the 14,000-inhabitant town in the southeast. These are by no means meant to be merely decorative; rather, they are said to have magical significance. The historically interested visitor might be interested in a visit to the Manuscript Museum. Also worth seeing are the mosque and the nearby cemetery of Tirzet. Good reasons, then, for the famous traveler Ibn Battūta to settle here for 55 days and praise the inhabitants and the wealth of Oualata in his writings.
