50 Fun Facts About Mauritania

What is the capital and largest city of Mauritania?

Roughly a third of the country's people live there.

Which ocean forms Mauritania's western border?

Its land neighbours include Algeria and Mali.

Roughly what share of Mauritania's territory is Saharan desert?

Most people live in the more temperate south along the river valley.

What is Mauritania's official full name?

Almost the entire population is Sunni Muslim.

What is the official language of Mauritania?

Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof are recognised as national languages, and French is still used in schools and business.

What is the name of the local dialect spoken by most Mauritanians?

It is named for the Beni Hassan tribe and contains many Berber words.

Mauritania's name comes from an ancient Berber kingdom that lay where?

The Roman province of Mauretania stretched across northern Morocco and Algeria.

Arab geographers knew the country as Bilad Chinqit, 'the land of' which city?

The medieval caravan town holds five libraries of manuscripts and was listed by UNESCO in 1996.

Which 11th-century Berber movement rose from Mauritania's deserts to build an empire reaching Spain?

According to a disputed tradition they conquered the Ghana Empire around 1076.

The Char Bouba War of 1644-1674 was the last failed indigenous effort to repel which invaders?

The victorious Beni Hassan became the top stratum of Moorish society and gave their name to the local dialect.

Mauritania was colonised in the early 20th century as part of which colonial federation?

Xavier Coppolani led the French mission from 1901.

Mauritania became independent in which year?

Independence came on 28 November.

The capital was chosen while still little more than what?

Construction to turn it into a city began in 1958.

Who was Mauritania's first president, ousted in a bloodless coup in 1978?

He had led the country into a disastrous war over the territory to its north.

Mauritania annexed part of which territory in 1976 before withdrawing in 1979?

Morocco took over its claim after defeats by the Polisario Front.

Which colonel ruled Mauritania for 21 years until a coup in August 2005?

He was overthrown while attending the funeral of Saudi King Fahd.

In 1999 Mauritania became one of only a few Arab League members to formally recognise which country?

Relations were broken off again after the 2008 coup.

Mauritania's first fully democratic multi-candidate presidential election was held in which year?

Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi won it, and was deposed by a coup the following year.

Which general led the 2008 coup and then won presidential elections in 2009 and 2014?

He was later jailed for corruption in December 2023.

The 2019 election of Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was notable as what?

He was re-elected for a second term in June 2024.

Slavery in Mauritania has been officially abolished how many times?

In 1905, 1981 and 2007, yet the Global Slavery Index still estimated 90,000 enslaved people in 2018.

Which two groups together make up about 70 percent of Mauritania's population?

The remaining 30 percent are largely sub-Saharan groups such as the Halpulaar and Wolof.

Mauritania expelled some 70,000 black citizens during a 1989 conflict with which neighbour?

The violence began with a dispute over grazing rights at Diawara.

What is the highest peak in Mauritania?

It rises to 915 metres near the mining town of Zouîrât.

The Richat Structure in the Adrar Plateau is nicknamed what?

Its concentric rings are about 40 km across and are best seen from space.

What do geologists explain the Richat Structure as, after ruling out an impact crater?

It was once assumed to be an impact crater, but no shock metamorphism was found in the 1960s.

A 2020 Discovery Channel episode floated the Richat Structure as a candidate location for what?

Its concentric rings resemble Plato's description of the city.

What is the name of the vast dune region in Mauritania's northeast, known as the 'Empty Quarter'?

The plateaus descend gradually toward it before merging into the greater desert.

Which mineral accounted for almost half of Mauritania's exports in the early 2020s?

Gold and copper mines were also opening in the interior, and offshore gas exports began in 2025.

The Mauritania Railway links the mines at Zouérat with which port?

The single line runs 704 km across the desert.

Ore trains on the Mauritania Railway can be how long?

They rank among the longest and heaviest trains in the world, with 200 or more cars.

Mauritania's Banc d'Arguin National Park is best known for hosting what?

More than two million wading birds arrive from Europe, Siberia and Greenland.

What was added to Mauritania's flag in 2017?

Voters approved the change in a referendum, and the stripes symbolise sacrifice and defence.

What colour is the field of the Mauritanian flag?

A golden star and crescent sit at its centre.

Mauritanian traditional music is performed by hereditary musicians known as what?

Their core instruments are the tidinit lute and the ardin harp played by women.

The ardin, a harp-like Mauritanian instrument, is traditionally played by whom?

Dimi Mint Abba helped bring the country's music to world audiences.

Mauritanian mint tea, called atay, is traditionally served in how many rounds?

The ritual symbolises hospitality.

The Mauritanian practice of leblouh involves what?

In some regions heavier women are considered beautiful, and obesity rates among women are high.

Which 1997 science-fiction film was partly shot in Mauritania?

The Oscar-nominated Timbuktu was also filmed there in 2014.

Mauritania qualified for which tournament in 2019, seven years after being ranked fourth-worst in the world?

Football is the country's most popular sport.

Into how many regions (wilaya) is Mauritania divided?

They are further split into 44 departments called moughataa.

A 1981 press report of a CIA plot against Mauritania was wrong; the leak actually concerned which country?

Bob Woodward blamed White House aides 'unfamiliar with the world' for mixing the two up.

Which country borders Mauritania to the northeast?

Mali lies to the east and southeast, Senegal to the southwest and Western Sahara to the north.

Roughly how many people lived in Mauritania as of 2021?

About a third of them are concentrated in the capital on the Atlantic coast, in a country the size of Egypt.

Nouakchott is a principal selling place for which unusual Saharan commodity?

The city's other attractions include the National Museum, the fishing port and a beach where fish is sold straight from the boats.

Along with Pulaar and Soninke, which language is recognised as a national language of Mauritania?

Arabic remains the sole official language, and Islam is the state religion.

When construction of Nouakchott began in 1958, the new capital was designed to house how many people?

Drought drove hundreds of thousands to the city from the 1970s, and by 2023 it held nearly 1.5 million.

In which year did UNESCO list Chinguetti, Ouadane, Tichitt and Oualata as a World Heritage Site?

Chinguetti's medieval manuscript libraries are described as without peer in West Africa, though dunes are swallowing the town.

The square minaret of Chinguetti's Friday Mosque is capped with five finials made from what?

The dry-stone Berber mosque dates from the 13th-14th century, in a town founded as a hub of trans-Saharan trade.

The 1,100 km 'Road of Hope' links Nouakchott with which town in Mauritania's far east?

The route runs via Boutilimit and Kiffa; the coastal Nouakchott-Nouadhibou road was only paved in 2004.