Imperial France[vague] gradually absorbed the territories of present-day Mauritania from the

Senegal River area and northwards, starting in the late 19th century. In 1901, Xavier Coppolani
took charge of the imperial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawaya
tribes, and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule
over the Mauritanian emirates. Trarza, Brakna and Tagant were occupied by the French armies in
1903–04, but the northern emirate of Adrar held out longer, aided by the anti-colonial rebellion
(or jihad) of shaykh Maa al-Aynayn, as well by insurgents from Tagant and the other regions.
Adrar was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania,
which had been drawn up and planned in 1904. Mauritania was part of French West Africa from
1920, as a protectorate and, then, a colony.[16]