Mauritania occupies 1,030,000 square kilometers where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. Ninety percent of the territory is desert. The country shares borders with Western Sahara to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and south, and Senegal to the southwest. The Senegal River defines the southern boundary. The coastline extends approximately 754 kilometers along the Atlantic. This is a place where sand dunes meet fishing waters and where the desert determines nearly everything about how life functions.
The Richat Structure sits in the Adrar Plateau. This geological formation spans roughly 40 kilometers in diameter. Astronauts use it as a landmark from orbit. The concentric circles of rock were initially thought to be an impact crater but are now understood as an eroded geological dome. The structure dates to the Proterozoic era, at least 600 million years old. You can arrange ground transport from Atar to reach it, though the journey crosses open desert without marked roads.
Banc d'Arguin National Park covers 12,000 square kilometers of coastal waters, mudflats, and small islands between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1989. The park supports the largest concentration of wintering wading birds in the world, with over two million individual birds recorded during migration seasons. The shallow waters create breeding grounds for multiple fish species. The Imraguen people fish here using traditional methods unchanged for centuries. They call dolphins to drive mullet into their nets by striking the water surface with sticks. This practice continues in specific seasons when the Imraguen maintain their fishing camps along the coast.
Four ancient trading towns in the Sahara hold UNESCO World Heritage status as the Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichit, and Oualata. These settlements served as trans-Saharan trade posts between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries. Chinguetti was founded in the eighth century and became known as the seventh holiest city in Islam, though this designation is informal rather than officially recognized by Islamic authorities. The town holds manuscript libraries with texts dating to the thirteenth century. Families guard these manuscripts in private collections. Ouadane was founded in 1147 and functioned as a departure point for caravans crossing to Morocco. Tichit dates to the twelfth century with distinctive decorative architecture using red stone. Oualata displays painted house facades in geometric patterns maintained by the town's women. All four towns have populations now measured in hundreds rather than thousands. Sand encroaches on the structures. The Mauritanian government and UNESCO partners work on stabilization projects, but desert conditions make preservation difficult.
The Ghana Empire controlled parts of what is now southeastern Mauritania between approximately 300 and 1200 CE. The empire's capital Koumbi Saleh sits near the current Mali border in Mauritania's Hodh Ech Chargui region. Archaeological excavations beginning in 1914 revealed stone buildings, a mosque, and evidence of gold trade networks. The site covers approximately one square kilometer. Arab chronicles from the eleventh century described Koumbi Saleh as divided into two towns six kilometers apart, one for the Muslim merchants and one for the emperor. The Almoravid movement began in Mauritania during the eleventh century when Abdallah ibn Yasin established a ribat or fortified monastery in the Adrar region around 1040. The movement spread north into Morocco and south into the Ghana Empire, eventually conquering territories from Senegal to Spain.
French colonial control began in 1904 when Mauritania became part of French West Africa. Xavier Coppolani led the initial French expansion, attempting negotiation with Moorish emirates before military campaigns became standard. France established Nouakchott as the capital in 1957, three years before independence. Before this, the administrative center was Saint-Louis in present-day Senegal. Nouakchott was selected because it sat roughly equidistant from the northern and southern regions of the territory. At independence on November 28, 1960, Nouakchott had approximately 9,000 residents. The population now exceeds one million. The city experiences regular expansion as drought and economic factors drive migration from rural areas.
Mauritania withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States in 2000 and joined the Arab Maghreb Union. The country is a member of both the Arab League and the African Union. The official language is Arabic. French functions as a working language in government and education. Pulaar, Soninke, and Wolof are spoken in the south. The population was estimated at 4.6 million in 2021 by the World Bank. Approximately eighty percent of citizens live in urban areas, primarily Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. The literacy rate for adults aged 15 and above was recorded at 53.4 percent in 2017 according to UNESCO.