Yemenis in the Western Sahara

When I visited Mauritania in 1960 I expected to find similarities between the culture of the West Saharan societies and that indigenous to Southern Arabia. I was not disappointed. Amidst the distinctive regional culture of the Moors there are certain traits which are difficult to explain solely by an independent evolution in a remote, yet similar, environment. Professor R. B. Serjeant, himself a specialist in Southern Arabia, was also struck by the cultural similarities after he had seen our expedition film of life in the caravan towns of Chinguetti and Wadan. There appears to be a clear case for some cultural contact, but having postulated this it is extremely difficult to tabulate or classify it. This cultural contact does not concern Mauritania alone but includes those vast areas of the Sahara and the Sudan, to east and south, which lie astride the routes leading to the Arabian peninsula.