Mauritania

Capital: Nouakchott Population: 3,359,185 Official Languages: Arabic Time Zone: +0 Dialing Code: +222

Government: Islamic republic Area: 1,030,700 km2 largest city: Nouakchott Currency : Ouguiya (MRO) ISO 3166 code: MR

Basic Info

Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is an Arab Maghreb country in West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber kingdom that had no relation with it. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.

Geography

At 397,929 square miles (1,030,631 km2), Mauritania is the world's 29th-largest country (after Bolivia). It is comparable in size to Egypt. It lies mostly between latitudes 14° and 26°N, and longitudes 5° and 17°W (small areas are east of 5° and west of 17°).

Climate

The climate is characterized by extremes in temperature and by meager and irregular rainfall. Annual temperature variations are small, although diurnal variations can be extreme. The harmattan, a hot, dry, and often dust-laden wind, blows from the Sahara throughout the long dry season and is the prevailing wind, except along the narrow coastal strip, which is influenced by oceanic trade winds. Most rain falls during the short rainy season (hivernage), from July to September, and average annual precipitation varies from 500 to 600 millimetres (19.7 to 23.6 in) in the far south to less than 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in the northern two-thirds of the country.

Religion

The country is nearly 100% muslim, most of whom are Sunnis. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nouakchott, founded in 1965, serves the 4,500 Catholics in Mauritania.

Administrative divisions

Mauritania is divided into 12 regions (régions) called wilaya and one capital district in Nouakchott. These, in turn, are subdivided into 44 departments (moughataa). The regions and capital district (in alphabetical order)

1 Adrar 2 Assaba 3 Brakna 4 Dakhlet Nouadhibou 5 Gorgol 6 Guidimaka 7 Hodh Ech Chargui

See Other Map

8 Hodh El Gharbi 9 Inchiri 10 Nouakchott (capital district) 11 Tagant 12 Tiris Zemmour 13 Trarza

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