Chemama is the name of the region along the Northern bank of the Senegal River, in Mauritania: a fertile band of land extending sixteen to thirty-two kilometers north of the river and containing alluvial soil.
The region's average annual precipitation ranges from 300 to 600 mm (12 to 24 inches) per year.
The population in this region is a potentially volatile mixture of ethnic Maures from the Mauritanian heartland and of Black African peoples linked to the nations to the south.
The region became the center of ethnic conflict once again during the late 1980s, with significant displacement of the black population into neighboring Senegal in 1989.
Library of Congress on Chemama Mauritanian History- French Colonial era