In Antiquity, Mauretania was originally an inependent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa (named after the Mauri tribe, after whom the Moors were named), corresponding to western Algeria, northern Morocco and Spanish Plazas de soberanía. The Mauri people were indicated with the Greek word mauros, black. Some of the earliest recorded history relates to Phoenician and Carthaginian settlement such as Lixus, Volubilis, Mogador and Chellah. The kingdom of Mauretania was not situated on the Atlantic coast south of Western Sahara, where modern Mauritania lies.