North Africa(UN: Western Africa)
Mauritania
Islamic Republic of Mauritania
A Saharan and Atlantic country of caravan towns and desert scholarship, and the last state in the world to abolish slavery in law.
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Mauritania in pictures
Flag, landscapes, landmarks and wildlife you can meet in the games. Photographs come from each subject’s Wikipedia article.
Flag
Flag of Mauritania
National flag
- Banc d'Arguin National Park
Landscape
Banc d'Arguin National Park
A real place in Mauritania
- Chinguetti library towns
Landmark
Chinguetti library towns
Sand-swept towns holding family libraries of medieval manuscripts.
- Banc d'Arguin
Landmark
Banc d'Arguin
Millions of migrating shorebirds winter on these sandbanks each year.
- Dromedary camel
Wildlife
Dromedary camel
A camel's hump stores fat, not water — fuel for weeks of walking.
- Dorcas gazelle
Wildlife
Dorcas gazelle
It gets nearly all its water from the plants it eats.
- Mediterranean monk seal
Wildlife
Mediterranean monk seal
One of the rarest seals on Earth, breeding in hidden cliff caves.
- Great white pelican
Wildlife
Great white pelican
Groups fish together, herding shoals into the shallows.
- Nouakchott
City
Nouakchott
Capital of Mauritania
Capital
Nouakchott
Population
5,315,065
World Bank, 2025
Area
1,030,700 km²
Currency
Mauritanian ouguiya
GDP per person
$2,198
Current US$, 2025
Life expectancy
68.7 yrs
World Bank, 2024
Urban population
61.5%
UN member
Yes
Quick facts
Did you know?
The iron ore train from Zouérat is among the longest trains in the world.
The Richat Structure is a 40 km circular feature visible from space.
Your route
Where to start with Mauritania
Every chapter above begins with the essentials and then lets you keep going deeper — four levels of depth, or your own question, researched from this country's reference data and our sourced library.
Go deeper: Orientation of Mauritania
Researched live from this country's reference data and our library. Keep pressing to go further, or ask your own question.
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Reference figures come from the World Bank Open Data API and the ISO 3166 country dataset, each shown with its year. Historical and cultural text is written by our editors and marks contested dating where scholars disagree. The "go deeper" chapters are generated live by Africa AI from that same reference data and our sourced library — check them before quoting. Borders shown are for orientation and do not imply a position on any dispute.