Capital Cities Of Africa Codexery

Nouakchott

Capital and largest city of Mauritania, a Sahara hub.

Last updated

Where it is

Street map of the area around Nouakchott; the red dot marks 18°05′06″N 15°58′23″W
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Coordinates: 18°05′06″N 15°58′23″W (18.0850, -15.9730) · Open in OpenStreetMap

Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Nouakchott (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.

Nouakchott is the capital and largest city of Mauritania, located in the southwestern part of the country on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara Desert.[1][2] Before 1958, Nouakchott was a fortified fishing village (ksar) under French rule, and construction to enlarge it began in March 1958.[3][4][5]

Geography and history

Before 1958, Nouakchott was a fortified fishing village (ksar) originally inhabited by the Amazigh-origin tribe of Bouhoubainy.[4][6] Construction began in March 1958 to enlarge the village for a population of 15,000, and the basics were completed by independence on 28 November 1960.[5] The city was planned with broad streets and a grid-like central business district, and it obtained its own local government during the 1960s.[6] In the 1970s, drought and desertification drove hundreds of thousands of Mauritanians to the city, many settling in overcrowded slum areas.[3][7]

Nouakchott features a hot desert climate with average rainfall of 95 mm per year, and its coastline includes shifting sandbanks and sandy beaches.[2][8] Most buildings are one-story, and the city is threatened by advancing sand dunes from its eastern side.[2][9] The location for the capital was selected by Mauritania's first president, Moktar Ould Daddah, and his advisors, who wanted it to represent modernity and national unity, thereby avoiding the contentious choice of a site dominated by either Arab/Amazigh or Sub-Saharan African populations.[6] During the Western Sahara conflict, the Polisario Front attacked Nouakchott twice in 1976, but these guerrilla raids inflicted minimal damage.[7]

Avenue Gamal Abdel Nasser, a large tree-lined street running northeast from the airport, splits the city: residential areas lie to its north, while the medina quarter and the kebbe shanty town are on the other side.[10]

What the cited sources add

A 2019 paper in PLOS One estimated that under a moderate climate change scenario, Nouakchott's 2050 climate would most closely resemble that of Khartoum.[11] The Sheikh Zayed solar power plant, completed in 2012, is considered the largest solar power plant in Africa.[12] The city's Chinese-built deepwater port opened in 1986 and was handling 1,500,000 tons of cargo by 2009.[13] Nouakchott is twinned with Amman, East Jerusalem, Lanzhou, Madrid, and Oujda.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Sahara: Facts, Climate and Animals of the Desert", Live Science (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Harbor in Nouakchott Marks China-Mauritania Friendship", news.xinhuanet.com, 28 July 2009; "The "Venice of Africa" is sinking into the sea", The Economist, 24 June 2024; "Nouakchott, Mauritania : Image of the Day", earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 9 January 2001; Welland, "Sand: The Never-ending Story", University of California Press, 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Handloff, "Mauritania: A Country Study", Federal Research Division, 1990, p. 50 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nouakchott, Mauritania | EROS" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nouakchott, Mauritania (1659- ) •", 3 September 2014; Britannica, Nouakchott Nouakchott, britannica.com, USA, accessed on July 7, 2019, (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pazzanita, Anthony G., "Historical Dictionary of Mauritania", Scarecrow Press, 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pazzanita, Anthony G., "Historical Dictionary of Mauritania", Scarecrow Press, 2008; "Nouakchott Travel Guide", www.world66.com; "Mauritania: Regions, Cities & Urban Localities – Population Statistics in Maps and Charts", citypopulation.de (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Klimatafel von Nouakchott / Mauretanien", Baseline climate means (1961–1990) from stations all over the world (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Spasevski, "Nouakchott, Mauritania", Tourist Destinations, 2013-09-29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: de Valicourt, "Mauritanie", Editions Marcus, 2000; Hudgens, "Rough Guide to West Africa", Rough Guides, 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bastin, "Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues", PLOS ONE, 10 July 2019; "Cities of the future: visualizing climate change to inspire action"; "The CAT Thermometer"; "Climatologie Mensuelle de Nouakchott-Oumtounsy", Office National de la Météorologie (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: El Hacen Jed, "Performance analysis of 954,809 kWp PV array of Sheikh Zayed solar power plant (Nouakchott, Mauritania)", Renewable Energy Focus, 2020-03-01, p. 45–54; Lasfar, "Study of the influence of dust deposits on photovoltaic solar panels: Case of Nouakchott", Energy for Sustainable Development, 2021-08-01, p. 7–15 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Harbor in Nouakchott Marks China-Mauritania Friendship", news.xinhuanet.com, 28 July 2009; "China to Invest US$282 Million in Nouakchott Port Expansion – Dredging News Online", www.sandandgravel.com; "Mauritania – Port of Nouakchott Development Project", The World Bank: Documents and Reports (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "Nouakchott" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Amman's Relations with Other Cities", Municipality of Greater Annam; "توقيع أتفاقية توأمة بين نواكشوط والقدس", Agence Mauritanienne d'Information, 2012-05-31; "List of Gansu's Sister Cities by 2012", gansu.chinadaily.com.cn; "Twinnings and Agreements With Cities", ¡Madrid!; "La ville d'Oujda jumelée à Al-Qods", 2018-07-17 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Nouakchott (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Catholic Church

Also in the Codexery

Nouakchott · Cities And Urban Areas

More in Capital Cities Of Africa

NiameyNairobiN'DjamenaMonroviaMaseruMaputoLusakaLuandaLoméLilongweLibrevilleKigali

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →