Nouakchott (redirected from Nouakchott, Mauritania)

Nouakchott (nwäkshôt`), city (1991 est. pop. 500,000), capital of Mauritania and Nouakchott dist., W Mauritania, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. Nouakchott was a small village until 1957, when it was chosen as the capital of Mauritania, in part because of the aquifer there. A large-scale construction program began in 1958. Today Nouakchott is Mauritania's largest city and its administrative center. Its ocean port, which is c.4 mi (6.4 km) from the city proper, has modern storage facilities, especially for petroleum; a deepwater harbor was built in the 1980s. Handicrafts are made, and light industry is carried on in the city. Nouakchott is located on a major highway and has an international airport. The city's growth has depleted the aquifer on which it depends; construction of a pipeline to the distant Senegal River is planned. Some historians believe that nearby stood the ribat (monastery) from which the Muslim Almoravids set out on their conquests of Africa and Spain in the 11th cent.

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Nouakchott

City (pop., 1999 est.: metro. area, 881,000), capital of Mauritania. It is on a plateau near the Atlantic coast of western African, north-northeast of Dakar, Senegal. It was a small village until Mauritania was granted full independence from France in 1960. Then the city was developed as the capital of the new nation. It was a major refugee centre during the Saharan droughts of the 1970s and grew rapidly. A port facility was built nearby for the export of petroleum and copper.