Mauritania
Name
| Official name | Islamic Republic of Mauritania — al-Jumhūriyyah al-Islāmiyyah al-Mūrītāniyyah (الجمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية) · République islamique de Mauritanie |
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| Former names | The Colony of Mauritania of French West Africa (1920–58); the civil territory of Mauritania (1904–20); Bilad Shinqit, the land of Chinguetti, to the Arab world; the emirates of Trarza, Brakna, Tagant and Adrar before |
| Demonym | Mauritanian |
| Meaning of the name | From the Roman Mauretania, the land of the Mauri Berbers of the Maghreb, taken by the French administrator Xavier Coppolani in 1903 for the territory south of it; the Moors of the country the Mauri's heirs in name |
| Motto | "Honneur, Fraternité, Justice" — Sharaf, Ikhāʾ, ʿAdālah; honor, fraternity, justice |
Quick facts
| Capital | Nouakchott — the place of the winds, chosen in 1957 and built from 1958 on the coast, the capital at independence; about 1.5 million, a third of the country |
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| Largest cities | Nouakchott; Nouadhibou, about 150,000, the port of the ore and the fish; Kiffa; Kaédi on the Senegal; Rosso, the crossing to Senegal; Zouérat of the iron; Atar of the Adrar; Néma at the end of the Road of Hope; Sélibaby; Aleg |
| Official language | Arabic — the Hassaniya dialect of the Moors the speech of the country, the modern standard of the state; Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof the national languages of the river peoples by the Constitution; French, the language of business, the courts in practice and the schools, official until 1991; the education law of 2022 and the language quarrel of every decade since 1966 |
| Currency | Ouguiya — MRU, UM; 5 khoums; since 29 June 1973, redenominated ten to one on 1 January 2018; about 40 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0; no summer time |
| Calling code | +222 |
| Internet domain | .mr |
| ISO 3166 codes | MR · MRT · 478 |
| Vehicle registration code | RIM |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and E |
| Independence | 28 November 1960, from France — Moktar Ould Daddah the first president; the Islamic Republic proclaimed within the French Community 28 November 1958 |
| National days | 28 November, Independence Day; 25 May, Africa Day; 1 May; 10 July, the Armed Forces Day of the coup of 1978; the Muslim feasts of Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year and the Prophet's birthday, the calendar of the state; no Christian holiday |
| Constitution | 20 July 1991 — the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, approved by referendum on 12 July 1991: Islam the religion of the state and the people, a president elected for five years, the two-term limit of the amendment of 2006, the Senate abolished and the flag's red bands added by the referendum of 5 August 2017; the amendments of 2012 outlawing coups, slavery and torture in the text |
| Population | About 4.48 million at the census of 2023; about 5.3 million (UN, 2026 est.) — from 850,000 in 1960; the nomads from 85% then to about 5% |
| Area | 1,030,700 km² (397,955 sq mi) — land 1,030,700 km²; the eleventh-largest in Africa |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A green field with a gold crescent and star in the center and a red band along the top and the bottom — the green and the crescent for Islam, the gold for the sands of the Sahara, the red bands for the blood of the martyrs of the independence struggle, added by the referendum of 5 August 2017 to the flag of 1 April 1959 that Moktar Ould Daddah's republic had flown for 58 years; the flag of an Islamic republic in the pan-African colors.Flag of Mauritania |
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| Seal of the republic | A green disc with the crescent and star of the flag between a palm and a sheaf of millet, ringed in the flag's red with the country's name in Arabic and French — "Islamic Republic of Mauritania"; adopted 1960, revised 2018 for the red |
| National anthem | The national anthem of 2017 — "Bilāda l-ubāti l-hudāti l-kirām," land of the proud, the guided and the noble — adopted 16 November 2017 after the referendum, in place of the anthem of 1960 set to the poem of Baba Ould Cheikh by the Frenchman Tolia Nikiprowetzky, which was too hard to sing |
| National motto | "Honneur, Fraternité, Justice" |
| National colors | Green, gold and red |
| National animal | The dromedary camel — the ship of the desert, about 1.5 million in the herds, the racing camels of the Adrar, the milk of the Tiviski dairy, the first camel dairy of Africa; widely cited |
| National tree | The date palm of the Adrar oases, the guetna harvest festival of Atar and Chinguetti; the acacia of the gum arabic; widely cited |
| National dish | Méchoui, the whole roast lamb of the feasts; thieboudienne, the fish and rice of the river shared with Senegal; couscous of the Moors; the camel milk and the zrig of milk and water; the three glasses of green tea of every hour, the ritual of the country; the dates; widely cited |
| National sport | Football, the Mourabitounes of the Cup of Nations of 2019, their first, 2021 and the round of 16 of 2023; camel racing; the traditional wrestling; widely cited |
| National music | The iggawen, the griots of the Moors, and their tidinit lute and ardin harp — Dimi Mint Abba, the voice of the country until 2011, Malouma, Noura Mint Seymali; the T'heydinn epic of the Moorish poets on UNESCO's urgent list of 2011; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag by the Constitution as amended in 2017; the seal and the anthem by the laws of 1960 and 2017; the animal, tree, dishes, sports and music widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Northwest Africa on the Atlantic — the Sahara and the Sahel; Western Sahara to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and south, Senegal across its river to the southwest; the bridge of the Arab Maghreb and Black Africa |
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| Land borders | 5,002 km (3,108 mi) with four neighbors — Mali 2,236, Western Sahara 1,564, Senegal 742, Algeria 460; the Mali line the jihadists' shadow, the brigades sent to Hodh El Gharbi in 2026; the Rosso ferry and the new bridge to Senegal; the Guerguerat road to Morocco through the Sahara |
| Coastline | 754 km (469 mi) — the Banc d'Arguin's shallows, the Cap Blanc of Nouadhibou with the last monk seals of the Atlantic, the beach of Nouakchott where the pirogues land the catch; the richest fishing waters of West Africa in the Canary Current upwelling; the wreck of the Méduse of 1816 on the bank |
| Highest point | Kediet ej Jill, 915 m (3,002 ft), the magnetite mountain beside Zouérat that swings the compass |
| Lowest point | The Sebkhet Te-n-Dghamcha, −5 m (−16 ft), the salt flat north of Nouakchott |
| Mean elevation | 276 m (906 ft) |
| Rivers | The Senegal — the only permanent river, the southern border for 800 km from Guidimaka to the sea at Saint-Louis, the Chemama floodplain of the rice and the millet, the dams of Manantali and Diama shared with Senegal and Mali; the Gorgol and the Karakoro of the wet season; the wadis of the interior that run a day a year |
| Lakes | Lake Rkiz and Lake Aleg of the Trarza and Brakna, filled by the river's flood; the Chott Boul; the Diawling lagoons of the Senegal delta; the sebkhas, the salt flats of the coast; the oases' pools of the Adrar, Terjit's springs |
| Terrain | The Sahara over nine-tenths — the sand seas of the Majabat al-Koubra, the "great emptiness" of the east, the ergs of the Trarza and the Akchar; the sandstone plateaus of the Adrar and the Tagant at 400–500 m with the Amogjar pass and the caravan towns; the Richat Structure, the Eye of the Sahara, 40 km across; the iron hills of the Tiris Zemmour; the Sahel band along the Senegal, the only farmland; the Assaba and Hodh of the herds |
| Climate | Desert — hot and dry, 40 to 50°C in the interior summer, the harmattan and the sirocco, the sandstorms of the spring; the rain under 100 mm in the north and 400–600 mm in the south between July and September; the coast tempered by the trade winds and the cold current, Nouadhibou never above 30°C |
| Natural hazards | Drought — the Sahel droughts of 1968–73 and 1983–85 that killed the herds, ended the nomad's life for most and built Nouakchott's slums; the sandstorms; the advance of the dunes on the roads and the capital; the locusts of 2004; the floods of the Senegal, the rains of 2024 across the south; the sea's rise on the low capital; the migrants' boats — 89 dead off Ndiago on 1 July 2024, 143 found dead on a boat from Gambia off Nouadhibou on 18 July 2026 after 25 days adrift |
| Natural resources | Iron ore of the Tiris Zemmour, the mines of Zouérat since 1963; gold at Tasiast; copper at Akjoujt; the offshore gas of Grand Tortue Ahmeyim and BirAllah; the fish; gypsum; phosphate at Bofal; the uranium of Tiris; the sun and wind for the green hydrogen of the plans; the salt |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 39%, almost all of it the pasture of the Sahel; arable land under 1%, the Senegal valley; forest about 0.2% |
| National parks | The Banc d'Arguin of 1976, 12,000 km² of shallows, islands and desert shore, the wintering ground of two million shorebirds and the home of the Imraguen fishermen who once herded mullet with the dolphins; the Diawling of 1991 on the Senegal delta; the Guelb er Richat; the Cap Blanc monk-seal reserve |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 2 — Banc d'Arguin National Park (1989); the Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata (1996), the caravan towns of the 11th to 12th centuries, Chinguetti the "seventh holy city of Islam" by the tradition with its libraries of manuscripts in the sand, Oualata of the painted houses; the T'heydinn epic (2011) on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 15 regions — wilayas — including the three of Nouakchott made in 2014, under appointed walis and the regional councils elected since 2018; 58 departments, the moughataas; 219 communes with elected mayors |
People
| Population | About 4.48 million (census of 2023); about 5.3 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 5 per km² (13 per sq mi) — among the lowest in the world; the north nearly empty, Nouakchott a third of the whole |
| Population growth | About 2.6% a year — the population doubling every 27 years |
| Median age | About 21 years |
| Life expectancy | About 65 years |
| Fertility rate | About 4.4 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 57% — from 7% in 1960; the nomads about 5% |
| Adult literacy | About 67% |
| Ethnic groups | No census counts them — by the estimates the ISS cites: the Haratin, the Black Moors, the Arabic-speaking descendants of the slaves of the Bidhan, about 40%; the Bidhan, the White Moors of Arab-Berber descent, the old masters and the rulers, about 30%; the Afro-Mauritanians of the river, the Halpulaar or Fulani, the Soninke, the Wolof and the Bambara, about 30%; the ethnic question the fault line of the state, the Bidhan holding most of the power, the "systemic racism" the BTI names and the government denies |
| Languages | Hassaniya Arabic by the Moors, three-quarters of the people; Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof by the river; French by the educated and the state's papers; the quarrel over the Arabization of the schools since 1966 and the education law of 2022 that made Arabic the language of instruction with the national languages |
| Religion | Sunni Muslim nearly 100% — the Maliki school and the Sufi orders of the Qadiriyya and the Tijaniyya, the marabouts of the zawiyas, the Islamic Republic by name and the state religion by the Constitution; apostasy a capital crime by the law of 2018, no execution since 1987; a few thousand Christians among the foreigners; the Chinguetti of the scholars, the seventh holy city |
| Human Development Index | 0.563 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 155th of 193 |
| Slavery and its legacy | The last country in the world to abolish slavery, by the decree of 5 July 1981, after the French abolition of 1905 that changed little — slavery made a crime in 2007 and a crime against humanity by the law of 2015, its courts in three cities; about 90,000 people, some 2% of the population, in modern slavery by the Global Slavery Index of 2023, hereditary servitude in the Haratin's bondage to the Bidhan families, which the government calls a thing of the past and the survivors' vestiges; the abolitionists — Biram Dah Abeid of the IRA, the runner-up of 2014, 2019 and 2024, jailed three times, whose party the state refuses to register; Boubacar Ould Messaoud of SOS Esclaves, dead 12 March 2026 at 80; the "humanitarian liability" of 1989–91 — the expulsion of some 60,000 Black Mauritanians to Senegal and the killing of several hundred Black soldiers, the amnesty of 1993 and the demand for justice unmet |
| Sport | Football — the Mourabitounes' first Cup of Nations in 2019, the round of 16 in 2023 with the win over Algeria; the camel racing of the festivals; the Olympics since 1984 with no medal; the Nouakchott stadium of 2023 |
| Diaspora | About 250,000 Mauritanians abroad — Senegal, Mali, the Gulf, France about 30,000, Spain; the migrants the other way, the Senegalese, Malians and Guineans of Nouakchott and the boats — Mauritania the main departure shore for the Canary Islands since 2023, about 47,000 arrivals there in 2024, the European Union's €210 million partnership of 8 March 2024 for the coast guard and the jobs, the Human Rights Watch report of 27 August 2025 on the beatings and expulsions of migrants that the government called unfounded, the Spanish patrols, the Mali deportations of 2025 |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary semi-presidential Islamic republic under the Constitution of 1991 — the president elected by the people for five years and two terms at most as head of state, commander of the armed forces, the appointer of the prime minister and the government; the National Assembly of 176; the Constitutional Council; Islam the source of the law |
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| President | Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani (El Insaf), since 1 August 2019 — the ninth head of state; born 4 December 1956 at Boumdeid in the Assaba, the son of a Sufi sheikh, the army chief of staff of 2008–18 and defense minister of 2018–19, the companion of the coups of 2005 and 2008 who broke with his predecessor Abdel Aziz in 2019; elected 22 June 2019 with 52% in the first round, the first transfer between elected presidents, and re-elected 29 June 2024 with 56.12% on a turnout of 55%; the chairman of the African Union of 17 February 2024 to 15 February 2025; a "status quo president" of the military elite in the BTI's words, the stability of the Sahel's exception in his supporters' |
| Prime Minister | Mokhtar Ould Djay (El Insaf), since 2 August 2024 — the seventeenth; born 28 December 1973 at Moudjéria in the Tagant, the statistician of the Rabat institute and Toulouse, the finance and economy minister of 2015–19, the head of the president's office of 2023–24, the manager of El Insaf's campaign of 2023; named hours after Mohamed Ould Bilal's resignation of 2 August 2024, his government of 32 ministers of 6 August 2024 with the Union for Democracy and Progress |
| The 2024 election | Held 29 June 2024 — Ghazouani 56.12%, Biram Dah Abeid of the anti-slavery IRA 22.1%, Hamadi Ould Sid'El Moctar of Tewassoul 12.8%, seven candidates; turnout 55% from 62% in 2019; the campaign of "personalities" rather than programs by the Toda Institute's account, the "uneven playing field" the BTI describes, the results accepted by the Constitutional Council; the protests of Kaédi, Nouakchott and Rosso on 1–2 July 2024 with three dead in custody in Kaédi, the opposition's fraud charge and the government's "false and baseless" |
| The 2023 election | The National Assembly elected 13 and 27 May 2023 for the 176 seats: El Insaf 107, the Islamist Tewassoul 11 as the largest opposition, the Union for Democracy and Progress, Sawab–RAG of Biram Dah Abeid, the Alliance for Justice and Democracy of the river peoples, Hope Mauritania and the rest with three or four each; the four parties of the majority merged into El Insaf in 2022; the regional councils and the 219 communes the same days; Mohamed Ould Meguett the Speaker |
| The national dialogue | Called by the president on 27 November 2024 to "strengthen social cohesion and consolidate democracy," the sixth since 2004 after the failed rounds of 2004, 2005, 2007, 2017 and 2018 — Moussa Fall, the economist of the central bank and the student movement of the 1970s, its coordinator from 2025, the questionnaire to the parties and the five candidates of 2024, the consultations of the year; the opposition's conditions — the Union of the Forces of Progress for a guarantee that the conclusions be applied, the AJD/MR for the national languages and the repeal of the parties law of 2018 that lets the interior minister dissolve a party; Biram Dah Abeid's refusal until his party is recognized and the Kaédi deaths answered; the divisions of caste and color, slavery, the killings of 1989–91 and the electoral rules the agenda, the results the country waits for |
| Parliament | The National Assembly — al-Jamʿiyya al-Waṭaniyya — 176 members elected for five years from the departments by majority and proportional lists, the national lists for women and the young, the four seats of the diaspora; the Senate abolished by the referendum of 2017; two deputies of the opposition, Marieme Cheikh Dieng and Ghamou Achour, sentenced to four years' prison on 4 May 2026 for insulting the president and "false claims" of racial discrimination under the law of 2021 on the national symbols, the sentence the opposition and the rights groups called an attack on free speech and the prosecutors the law |
| The next election | The National Assembly and the councils in 2028; the presidential election by June 2029, the president barred from a third term |
| The presidents before | Moktar Ould Daddah, 1960–78, the founder, deposed by the army in the Western Sahara war; the colonels of 1978–84; Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, 1984–2005, the ties with Israel of 1999, deposed by his own officers; the transition of 2005–07 and Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the elected president of 2007–08 deposed by General Abdel Aziz; Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, 2009–19, jailed for illicit enrichment — five years on 4 December 2023, fifteen on appeal in May 2025, the first former head of state tried and jailed in the country; the coups of 1978, 1984, 2005 and 2008, and none since |
| Legal system | Sharia and French civil law — the codes of 1983 and the courts of the qadis, the family code of 2001; the death penalty on the books for apostasy since the law of 2018 and no execution since 1987; the slavery courts of 2015; the cybercrime law; the law of 2021 protecting the national symbols and the president; the Constitutional Council of nine |
| Local government | 15 wilayas under walis named by the president with the regional councils elected 2023, Fatimetou Mint Abdel Malick the president of the Nouakchott region since 2018, the first woman to head a region; the 219 communes and their mayors; the tribes and the emirs' families beneath the state |
| Defense | The Armed Forces of about 16,000 with the gendarmerie and the National Guard — the "Mauritanian model" of the Sahel, no jihadist attack on its soil since 2011 after the killings of 2005–11, the special groups of the desert, the border zones closed to traffic, the reported understandings with the fighters; the brigades for the Hodh El Gharbi against the spillover of Mali's war in 2026, the Malian refugees of Mbera at 100,000 and more; the G5 Sahel of 2014 dissolved in 2023 with Mauritania and Chad the last; NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue since 1995; the drones and the patrol boats of the European aid |
| Foreign policy | The "strict neutrality" on Western Sahara — the Sahrawi republic recognized since 1984, the Guerguerat road and the Amkala border post of 19 February 2025 with Morocco, the Nouakchott stock exchange with Casablanca of April 2025; Senegal the partner of the river and the gas; the Gulf money of the Emirates and Saudi Arabia; Spain and the European Union of the migration deal, Sánchez at Nouakchott on 17 July 2025; the United States of the trade preferences; China of the ports and the fish; Israel recognized in 1999 as the third Arab state and the ties cut in 2010 over Gaza; the Arab League since 1973 and the African Union chair of 2024–25 |
| United Nations | Member since 27 October 1961; the Security Council seat of 1974–75; the UNHCR camp of Mbera; the migration pacts |
| Other memberships | The Arab League (1973); the Arab Maghreb Union of 1989; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; the African Union; ECOWAS left in 2000 and the associate agreement of 2017; the Senegal River basin organization with Senegal, Mali and Guinea; the Non-Aligned Movement; the WTO (1995); the Francophonie |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$12 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$2,400 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$7,500 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5% a year in 2024–26 on the gold, the ore and the first gas; inflation about 3% from 11% in 2022; the ouguiya at about 40 to the dollar; the IMF program of 2023–26 and the Resilience facility, the fifth review agreed 6 November 2025 |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture and herding about 20%, industry and mining about 30%, services about 50% — the state and the informal trade |
| Currency | Ouguiya (MRU) |
| Iron ore | The Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière, SNIM, the mines of Zouérat and the Guelbs since 1963, about 13 million metric tons a year of hematite and magnetite for China and Europe, the country's largest exporter and employer; the ore railway of 704 km to Nouadhibou, its trains of 200 or more wagons and 2.5 km the longest and heaviest in the world; the F'derick and Kediet ej Jill; the target of 18 million tons |
| Gold, copper and the rest | Tasiast of Kinross, about 600,000 ounces a year, the largest gold mine, and the artisanal diggings of Chami and the north since 2016, a million diggers' hopes; the copper of Akjoujt; the uranium of Tiris of Australia's Aura Energy toward a decision; the phosphate of Bofal; the gypsum; the mining code of 2023 |
| Gas | Grand Tortue Ahmeyim — the offshore gas field shared with Senegal on the maritime line, in 2,850 m of water, developed by BP and Kosmos with the two national companies: first gas on 31 December 2024, the first LNG cargo of April 2025, 2.3 million metric tons a year in the first phase, the leak of February 2025 at the A2 well that Greenpeace decried and the operator called contained; BirAllah the next field; the domestic gas of Banda for the power; the "gas country" the government promises and the "risks of dependence" the analysts note |
| Fishing | The richest waters of West Africa — the octopus, the sardinella and the tuna of the upwelling, about a fifth of exports, the fishmeal plants of Nouadhibou, the Chinese, Turkish and European fleets, the EU agreement worth about €57 million a year, the Senegalese pirogues' licenses; the Imraguen of the Banc; the overfishing the biologists warn of |
| Herds and the land | About 20 million sheep and goats, 2 million cattle and 1.5 million camels, the wealth of the Sahel and the nomads' remnant; the rice, millet and sorghum of the Senegal valley behind the Diama dam; the dates of the Adrar; about 60% of the food imported; the Tiviski dairy |
| Energy | Electricity for about half the people, the diesel and gas plants of Somelec, the solar of Nouakchott and the wind of Nouadhibou, the US$287 million solar project of 2025; the green hydrogen of the plans — Aman of CWP Global at 30 gigawatts of wind and sun, Nour of Chariot and TotalEnergies — the largest projects on the continent if they come; the OMVS hydropower of Manantali |
| Public finances | Public debt about 50% of GDP; the deficit about 2.5%; the fiscal rule of the IMF's program and the flexible exchange rate; the budget of 108 billion ouguiya in 2024; the poverty of about 30% below the national line, the aid of the World Bank and the Gulf |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income (World Bank); a least developed country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport, of 2016, built by the Chinese 25 km north of the city; Nouadhibou; Atar for the Adrar's tourists; Zouérat; Néma; Kiffa |
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| Airline | Mauritania Airlines, the state carrier of 2010 to Dakar, Casablanca, Paris and the Gulf; Air France, Royal Air Maroc, Turkish and Tunisair the links |
| Main ports | Nouakchott's Port de l'Amitié, the "friendship port" built by China in 1986 and enlarged, the door of the imports; Nouadhibou, the ore terminal and the fishing port of the ship graveyard, about 300 wrecks at its peak, the largest in the world, partly cleared; N'Diago of 2023 at the Senegal mouth, Chinese-built; the Tanit fishing port |
| Railways | 704 km (437 mi) of standard gauge — the SNIM ore line from Zouérat to Nouadhibou of 1963, one line and the longest train on earth, the passengers riding free on the ore; no other railway |
| Roads | About 11,000 km (6,800 mi), about 3,000 paved — the Road of Hope of 1,100 km from Nouakchott east to Néma near the Malian border, the country's spine; the coast road of 2004 to Nouadhibou and on to Morocco, the route of the trucks and the migrants; the Rosso crossing to Senegal by ferry and the bridge built since 2021; the pistes of the desert and the 4x4s |
| The desert | The camel caravans of the azalai to the salt of Idjil; the Paris–Dakar rally of 1979–2007 that crossed the dunes; the Amogjar pass to Chinguetti; the Iron Ore Train as the tourists' ride |
History in dates
| c. 2000 BC | Dhar Tichitt — the oldest stone towns of West Africa |
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| c. 300 BC | The Berbers of the Sanhaja |
| c. 700 | The Ghana Empire — Koumbi Saleh in the Hodh |
| 1039 | The Almoravids from the Adrar — Marrakech founded, 1070 |
| 1445 | The Portuguese at Arguin |
| 1644 | The Char Bouba war, to 1674 — the Arab emirates |
| 1816 | The Méduse wrecked on the Banc d'Arguin, 2 July |
| 1902 | Coppolani's "peaceful penetration"; killed at Tidjikja, 1905 |
| 1920 | A colony of French West Africa |
| 1934 | The last resistance of the north ends |
| 1958 | The Islamic Republic proclaimed, 28 November; Nouakchott founded |
| 1960 | Independence, 28 November — Ould Daddah |
| 1973 | The ouguiya, 29 June; the Arab League |
| 1975 | The Western Sahara war |
| 1978 | The coup of 10 July |
| 1979 | Peace with the Polisario, 5 August |
| 1981 | Slavery abolished, 5 July — the last country |
| 1984 | Ould Taya's coup, 12 December |
| 1989 | The Senegal crisis, April — 60,000 expelled |
| 1991 | The Constitution, 20 July |
| 1999 | Relations with Israel, 28 October |
| 2005 | The coup of 3 August |
| 2007 | Abdallahi elected, 25 March; slavery a crime, August |
| 2008 | Abdel Aziz's coup, 6 August |
| 2015 | Slavery a crime against humanity |
| 2017 | The referendum, 5 August — the red bands, the Senate gone |
| 2018 | The new ouguiya, 1 January |
| 2019 | Ghazouani elected, 22 June; president, 1 August |
| 2023 | The Assembly, 13 May; Abdel Aziz jailed, 4 December |
| 2024 | The AU chair, 17 February; the EU pact, 8 March; re-elected, 29 June; Ould Djay, 2 August; the dialogue called, 27 November; first gas, 31 December |
| 2025 | The first LNG cargo, April; Abdel Aziz's 15 years, May; Sánchez, 17 July; the HRW report, 27 August |
| 2026 | Messaoud dies, 12 March; the deputies sentenced, 4 May; the boat of 143 dead, 18 July |
Records & firsts
| The last country to abolish slavery | 5 July 1981 |
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| The longest and heaviest train on earth | The iron ore train, 2.5 km |
| The largest ship graveyard | Nouadhibou |
| The Eye of the Sahara | The Richat Structure, 40 km |
| The oldest stone towns of West Africa | Dhar Tichitt, c. 2000 BC |
| The seventh holy city of Islam, by the tradition | Chinguetti |
| The empire that reached Spain | The Almoravids, from the Adrar |
| A currency of five parts | The ouguiya |
| Two million shorebirds | The Banc d'Arguin |
| The first camel dairy of Africa | Tiviski |
| The first transfer between elected presidents | 1 August 2019 |
| The first former president jailed | Abdel Aziz, 2023 |
| A capital built from nothing | Nouakchott, 1958 |
| The wreck of the Méduse | 1816 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Mauritania?
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania — al-Jumhūriyyah al-Islāmiyyah al-Mūrītāniyyah in Arabic, République islamique de Mauritanie in French — proclaimed within the French Community on 28 November 1958 and independent of France on 28 November 1960 under Moktar Ould Daddah, one of four states in the world with "Islamic Republic" in its name. The name is Rome's: Mauretania, the kingdom of the Mauri, the Berbers of Morocco and Algeria, borrowed by the French in 1903 for a territory a thousand kilometers south of it; the Moors of the country are the Mauri's namesakes and the Arabic name of the land, Shinqīt, is the name of Chinguetti.
What is the capital of Mauritania?
Nouakchott — "the place of the winds," a fishing village of a few hundred on the Atlantic shore chosen in 1957 as the capital of a country that had none, built from 1958 on the sand between the desert and the sea and swollen by the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s that drove the nomads to it; about 1.5 million people today, a third of the country, low, sprawling and sinking toward the water table. Nouadhibou on the Cap Blanc peninsula in the north is the port of the iron ore and the fish; Kiffa, Kaédi, Rosso on the Senegal, Zouérat of the mines and Atar of the Adrar follow.
How big is Mauritania, and how many people live there?
About 1,030,700 km² (397,955 sq mi) — the eleventh-largest country of Africa, three times the size of Arizona, nearly the size of Egypt — on the Atlantic between Western Sahara and Senegal, with Mali behind it and a corner of Algeria in the northeast; nine-tenths of it the Sahara. The census of 2023 counted about 4.48 million people; the UN estimates about 5.3 million for 2026, growing 2.6 percent a year, one of the least crowded countries on earth at five to the square kilometer, most of them along the Senegal in the south and in Nouakchott. The people are the Moors — the Bidhan of Arab-Berber descent and the Haratin, the Arabic-speaking descendants of their slaves — and the Afro-Mauritanians of the river: the Fulani, the Soninke and the Wolof.
What are the highest and lowest points of Mauritania?
Kediet ej Jill, 915 m (3,002 ft), a mountain of magnetite so rich in iron that it deflects compasses, beside the mines of Zouérat in the far north; and the Sebkhet Te-n-Dghamcha, a salt flat 5 m (16 ft) below the sea north of Nouakchott. The Senegal River is the southern border and the only permanent river; the Adrar and Tagant plateaus rise from the sand in the middle of the country, and in the Adrar lies the Richat Structure, the "Eye of the Sahara," a ring of rock 40 km across that the astronauts use as a landmark.
What currency does Mauritania use?
The ouguiya (ISO code MRU, UM), issued by the Central Bank since 29 June 1973, when it replaced the CFA franc as Mauritania left the West African monetary union, and redenominated at ten to one on 1 January 2018 — one of the two currencies in the world, with Madagascar's ariary, not divided by ten: an ouguiya is five khoums. About 40 ouguiya buy a U.S. dollar. Clocks keep Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0, all year; Mauritania drives on the right.
Who governs Mauritania?
President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, the former army chief and defense minister, head of state since 1 August 2019 — the first president to take office from an elected predecessor in the country's history — and re-elected on 29 June 2024 with 56 percent of the vote against the anti-slavery campaigner Biram Dah Abeid; and Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Djay, the economist and former finance minister he named on 2 August 2024. Their party, El Insaf, holds 107 of the 176 seats of the National Assembly elected in May 2023. The president's second term is his last under the Constitution; the next parliamentary election is due in 2028 and the presidential one by June 2029.
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