The Hodh and the Mauritanian Coast 62 Karta and Bakta and multiplied there. Beginning in the eighteenth century, at a time when the Awafir battalions of Bani Hassan were advancing towards the Hodh, these factions clashed with them. After a few years of battles, the advantage went to the Hassanians. The narrative recounts that all the Tajakant of the Hodh, along with a number of the Aqlal, were encamped near a well with their tents and herds. When they sensed the pastures were running out, they sent their men to search for fodder. Upon their return, they found their camps gone, as the Hassanians had descended upon them in their absence and dispersed them. It was only then that the chiefs of the three groups saw all the survivors and migrated eastward to the current regions they inhabit. These chiefs are: Abu Bakr, who, with his family and companions, is considered the ancestor of the Idiliyya; Musa, the ancestor of the Wusra; and Abd al-Rahman Khalifa, the ancestor of a part of the Aqlal tribe of the Hodh. We will leave the father Jabni Abd al-Rahman Khalifa and the Aqlal to study the two Hukayni factions, namely the Idiliyya and the Wusra. We must also include two other factions. The first is a small faction that travels on the fringes of the coast and the Hodh (Nema circle), bearing the original name of Tajakant. It consists of the descendants of a great marabout, Jekni, Sidi al-Mahjub, who settled in the Hodh region in the eighteenth century. The second is the Talakat, who are not Tajakant in the true sense, nor are they sons of Jakan [al-Abr]. Rather, they attributed themselves to Tajakant because they are the sons of Falla, the brother of Jakan [al-Abr].

First: Idiliyya 1 – Historical Overview Abu Bakr bin Muhammad al-Hassak arrived at Bir al-Arnab in the mid-eighteenth century, after the incident we narrated. This well was owned by the Banu Nabara tribes, who had dug it long before. He bought it from them and settled in the adjacent pastures. His sons and grandsons succeeded him as chiefs of the faction: his son Uthman, followed by Ahmad al-Wali bin Uthman, then Sheikh Mawlud, and then Sheikh Muhammad, both sons of Ahmad al-Wali. Later came Sheikh al-Mukhtar, and then Sheikh Midi, both sons of Sheikh Mawlud, and then Sheikh Ahmad bin Sheikh Muhammad, under whose leadership (around 1870) the split occurred between the Northern Idiliyya and the Southern Idiliyya. Sheikh Ahmad bin Sheikh Muhammad left his tribe to fight alongside [Sheikh] Abidin and his Kunti group against the Awlad Awsh and the people of Burda. This happened (Ruwah) at the time of the burial against the Hassanians [!]. He entrusted the leadership to his uncle, Bluti bin Sheikh Sidi. After a few years, he was forced to return, but Bluti retained his leadership, though a number of tents