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| 15. Mauritania |
| 1960, Nov |
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| Mauritania gained independence from France. Moktar Ould Daddah continued as head of state. | 1 |
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| 1966 |
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| The government announced that Arabic was to become a compulsory subject in Mauritanian secondary schools. The new policy aggravated hostilities between the country's African and Arab population groups. | 2 |
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| 1969–74 |
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| Sahelian drought hit Mauritania, devastating the country's nomadic population and livestock herds. | 3 |
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| 1975 |
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| The Spanish government gave Mauritania territorial rights over a portion of the Western Sahara (See 1975, June 25). Troops from the Polisario Front, a Western Saharan rebel group, reacted by commencing a four-year campaign of cross-border raids into Mauritanian territory. | 4 |
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| 1978, July |
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| Daddah was overthrown in a military coup led by Lt. Col. Moustapha Ould Salek. | 5 |
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| 1979 |
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| Mauritania signed the Algiers Agreement, thus relinquishing control over its territory in Western Sahara. | 6 |
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| 1981 |
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| The Parti Islamique, backed by Morocco, launched an unsuccessful coup attempt against the Mauritanian government. | 7 |
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| 1984 |
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| The government of Mohammed Khouna Haidalla was overthrown by forces loyal to the army chief of staff, Sid'Ahmed Taya. Taya's policies led to an economic upturn. | 8 |
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| 1986 |
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| The government imposed a stricter code of Islamic law on the country, angering black Mauritanian groups and leading to racial clashes. Prominent African political activists were arrested after publishing the “Oppressed Black African Manifesto.” | 9 |
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| 1998–2000 |
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| Mauritania persisted as one of the poorest countries in the world; further human rights issues were exposed regarding the apparent slave trade that still existed in the impoverished nation. | 10 |
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| 1998, April 17 |
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| In Senate elections the ruling Democratic and Socialist Republican Party (PRDS) obtained 54 of 56 available seats. | 11 |
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