The Bafour or Bafur may have inhabited present-day Mauritania and the Western Sahara before the arrival of Islamic peoples. Some sources say this is a loose term to encompass the pre-Sahadja peoples, who were "part Berber, part Negro, and part Semite." Others say they occupied these territories in the 15th century and, before the end of the 17th century, were assimilated by other tribes, including the Wolof, Berber, and Fula.