Guide Note

Mauritania is a country in northwest Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the countries of Senegal, Western Sahara, Mali and Algeria.

Fast Facts

1. Capital: Nouakchott
2. Government: Parliamentary Republic
3. Population: 3,270,065 (July 2007 est.)
4. Currency: Ouguiya (MRO)
5. President: Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
6. Official Language: Arabic, French
7. Named after ancient kingdom Mauretania
8. One of only four Arab states to recognize the sovereignty of Israel

The original inhabitants of what is now Mauritania were a tribe known as the Bafour, nomads who had stopped to settle and farm the region to the west of the Sahara Desert. These people were displaced between 400-600 AD by the arrival of Berber tribes from the North.

The area was part of the sprawling Ghana Empire before it collapsed, overrun by invading Arab warriors. This was followed by an attempt to repel the Arab invaders, Mauritanian Thirty-Year War, but the effort ended in failure.

In the early 1800s, the area was colonized by the French, with Mauritania becoming a portion of French West Africa. The country gained its independence in 1960. Strife and conflict continues within Mauritania between the Arab and non-Arab population within Mauritania to this day, between those who want to make the nation more like a traditionally Islamic country and those seeking a more secular, pluralistic society.

In 2007, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi won the nation's first fully democratic election since winning its independence in 1960.