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, image_skyline = Nouakchott.jpg , image_caption = City view of Nouakchott , pushpin_map = Mauritania#Arab world#Africa , pushpin_relief = 1 , mapsize = , map_caption = Map of Mauritania showing Nouakchott , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 =
Capital district A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...
, subdivision_name1 = Nouakchott , leader_title = Council president , leader_name =
Fatimatou Abdel Malick Fatimatou Mint Abdel Malick (born 1958) is a Mauritanian politician who has served as mayor of Tevragh-Zeina since 2001. She was the first woman in her country to hold the position of mayor. From 2012 to 2015 she served as president of The Netw ...
, population_as_of = 2019 census , population_total = 1,195,600 , area_total_km2 = 1000 , population_density_km2 = auto , area_total_sq_mi = 400 , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , elevation_m = 7 , elevation_ft = , website = , settlement_type =
Capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...
Nouakchott (; ; ar, نواكشوط; ber, label=
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
, italic=yes, Nwakcoṭ, originally derived from ber, label=
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
, italic=yes, Nawākšūṭ, "place of the winds") page 273. is the
capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
and largest city of
Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
. It is one of the largest cities in the
Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid cli ...
. The city also serves as the administrative and economic center of Mauritania. Nouakchott was a mid-sized village of little importance until 1958 when it was chosen as the capital of the nascent nation of Mauritania. At the time, it was designed and built to accommodate 15,000 people. However, beginning in the 1970s, a vast number of Mauritanians began moving to Nouakchott because environmental conditions in their home villages had become too harsh due to
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and increasing
desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused ...
. , the city had a population of just under a million people. Many of the newcomers settled in
slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily ...
areas of the city that were poorly maintained and extremely overcrowded. However, more recently, the living conditions of some of these inhabitants have improved. The city is the hub of the Mauritanian economy. It is home to a
deepwater port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
and
Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport ( ar, مطار نواكشوط الدولي - أم التونسي, french: Aéroport International de Nouakchott-Oumtounsy) is an international airport serving Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. It ...
, one of the country's two international airports. It also hosts the
University of Nouakchott The University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya (french: Université de Nouakchott Al Aasriya, ar, جامعة نواكشوط) is a university in the city of Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Maurit ...
and several other more specialized institutions of higher learning.


History

Nouakchott was a large, fortified fishing village (''ksar'') in pre-colonial times and under French rule. As Mauritania prepared for independence, it lacked a capital city. The area of present-day Nouakchott was chosen by Moktar Ould Daddah, the first President of Mauritania, and his advisors. Ould Daddah desired the new capital to symbolise modernity and national unity, which ruled out existing cities or towns in the interior. The village was selected as the capital city for its central location between
Saint-Louis, Senegal Saint Louis or Saint-Louis ( wo, Ndar), is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially ...
, the city from which the colony of Mauritania was governed, and
Nouadhibou Nouadhibou (; ar, نواذيبو, Nwādībū, Berber: Nwadibu, formerly in French: ) is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial centre. The city itself has about 118,000 inhabitants expanding to over 140,000 in the l ...
. Its location also meant that it avoided the sensitive issue of whether the capital was built in an area dominated by the Arab-descended Moors or Black Africans. Construction began in March 1958 to enlarge the village to house a population of 15,000, and the basics were completed by the time that the French granted independence on 28 November 1960. Nouakchott was planned with the expectation that commerce and other economic activities would not take place in the city. Nouakchott's
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
was planned with broad streets and a grid-like structure; the new ''Cinquième Quartier'' (Fifth District) was located close to this area and became the location of a large open-air market and residential area within a few years. During the 1960s, the city obtained its own local government. By the 1970s, these new areas had grown so much that they replaced the old ''ksar'' in terms of importance, as they also hosted the governmental buildings and state enterprises. The city was attacked twice in 1976 by the
Polisario Front The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس� ...
during the
Western Sahara conflict The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/ Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces ...
, but the guerrillas caused little damage. The city has had massive and unconstrained growth, driven by the North African
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
, since the beginning of the 1970s; hundreds of thousands moved there in search of a better life. The official censuses showed 134,000 residents in 1977 and 393,325 in 1988, although both figures were probably smaller than reality. The population is now estimated to consist of at least one third of the country's population of 3.2 million, and the 2013 census showed a population of 958,399.


Geography

Located on the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
coast of the Sahara Desert, it lies on the west coast of Africa. With the exception of Friendship Port and a small fishing
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
, the coastal strip is mostly left empty and allowed to flood. The coastline includes shifting sandbanks and sandy beaches. There are areas of quicksand close to the harbor. Nouakchott is largely flat and only a few meters above sea level. It is threatened by the sand dunes advancing from its eastern side which pose a daily problem. There have been efforts to save particular areas, including work by Jean Meunier. Owing to the rapid build-up, the city is quite spread out, with few tall buildings. Most buildings are one-story. Nouakchott is built around a large tree-lined street, Avenue Gamal Abdel Nasser, which runs northeast through the city centre from the airport. It divides the city into two, with the residential areas in the north and the medina quarter, along with the ''kebbe'', a shanty town formed due to the displacement of people from other areas by the desert. Other major streets are named (in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
) for notable Mauritanian or international figures of the 1960s: Avenue Abdel Nasser, Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Avenue Kennedy, and Avenue Lumumba, for example. The ''kebbe'' consists of
cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...
buildings that are built overnight and made to look permanent to avoid destruction by the authorities. In 1999, it was estimated that more than half of the city's inhabitants lived in tents and shacks, which were used for residential as well as business purposes. The city is broken into nine ''arrondissements'', sub-divided into alphabetised ''Îlots''. These are Teyarett, Ksar, Tevragh Zeïna, Toujournine, Sebkha, El Mina, Dar Naïm, Arafat and Riad. The Sebkha (Cinquième) Arrondissement is home to a large shopping area.


Climate

Nouakchott features a
hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
( Köppen: BWh) with hot temperatures throughout the year but cool winter night temperatures. Due to the city's oceanside location, Nouakchott is generally not quite as hot as other cities with this climate. Still, the city can experience sweltering days. While average high temperatures are relatively constant at around , average low temperatures can range from during the summer months to during the winter months. Minimum temperatures can be as low as during winter nights in Nouakchott. Average rainfall in the city is a year.


Sustainability

Responding to a 450% projected increase in electricity demand between 2010 and 2030, Nouakchott's Sheikh Zayed solar power plant was completed in 2012 and is considered the largest solar power plant in Africa. The desert climate causes dust accumulation, which negatively impacts the performance of photovoltaic solar panels.


Government

Nouakchott is divided into three administrative
regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
(''wilayat'') led by governors appointed by the central government, each of which contains three
departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
(''moughataa''): * Nouakchott-Nord (North Nouakchott): Dar-Naim, Teyarett,
Toujouonine Toujouonine is a suburb of Nouakchott and Communes of Mauritania, urban commune in western Mauritania. It has a population of 56,064. References

Communes of Mauritania Nouakchott {{Mauritania-geo-stub ...
* Nouakchott-Ouest (West Nouakchott):
Ksar Ksar or qsar (Maghrebi Arabic: wiktionary:قصر, قصر ''qṣer'' or ڭصر ''gser'', plural ''qṣur''; Berber language, Berber: ⵉⴴⵔⵎ ''aghrem'' or ''ighrem'', plural: ''igherman''), plural ksars, qsars, ksour or qsour, is the Nor ...
,
Sebkha A sabkha ( ar, سبخة) is a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sandflat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate as the result of semiarid to arid climate. Sabkhas are gradational between land and intertidal zone within restricted coastal ...
, Tevragh-Zeina * Nouakchott-Sud (South Nouakchott): Arafat, El Mina,
Riyad Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...
Separate from the ''wilayat'', a directly elected regional council was established in Nouakchott in 2018, which took over the roles of promoting social and economic development from the ''
communauté urbaine Communauté urbaine (French for "urban community") is the second most integrated form of intercommunality in France, after the ''Metropolis'' (french: link=no, métropole). A ''communauté urbaine'' is composed of a city ( commune) and its indep ...
'' of Nouakchott which it replaced.
Fatimatou Abdel Malick Fatimatou Mint Abdel Malick (born 1958) is a Mauritanian politician who has served as mayor of Tevragh-Zeina since 2001. She was the first woman in her country to hold the position of mayor. From 2012 to 2015 she served as president of The Netw ...
was elected council president in September 2018. Nouakchott was initially divided into four departments in 1973. In 1986 the current nine departments were created. Formerly a district, in 1990 Nouakchott became a region of Mauritania. On 25 November 2014, it was split into the three current regions, and its governor Mahi Ould Hamed became the first governor of Nouakchott-Nord.


Demographics

For comparison, its population was only 20,000 in 1969. Part of the difficulty in estimating the city's population is that part of it is
nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
ic, setting up tents in suitable locations, then packing up when the need strikes. Some estimates put the 2008 population at over 2 million. The 2013 census gave the city's population as 958,399.


Slum resettlement

In 2009, the government of Mauritania announced that it would begin a process of clearing the slum on the outskirts of Nouakchott, as 24,000 families would eventually be relocated to planned housing in the city. The process was scheduled to begin with the relocation of 9,000 families from the outskirts into the poor Arafat department neighborhood of "Kosovo", popularly named for its high crime rate and poor services. The government planned to begin moving families in June 2009, despite concerns from aid agencies that needed infrastructure could not be put in place in the receiving neighborhood. In 2013, it was reported that "slums have been replaced by social dwellings for the poorest", with the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
reporting that the plan met with substantial success, resulting in access to improved services for 181,035 people in the slum areas.


Economy

Nouakchott is the center of the Mauritanian economy, with three-quarters of service sector enterprises located in the city with 90% of the city's economic activity consisting of informal transactions. Some inhabitants have multiple addresses and maintain strong ties with their regions of origin, at times returning for labor.


Transport

Nouakchott has a Chinese-built
deepwater port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
that opened in 1986. It was designed for a capacity of of cargo a year, but has been handling 1,500,000 tons (DWT) by 2009. China agreed in 2009 to invest US$282 million in the port, aiming to extend the main
quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...
by over . As of 2011, the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
was investigating funding a new
shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
facility at the port. Air service is provided by
Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport ( ar, مطار نواكشوط الدولي - أم التونسي, french: Aéroport International de Nouakchott-Oumtounsy) is an international airport serving Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. It ...
, which replaced the previous
Nouakchott International Airport Nouakchott International Airport ( ar, مطار نواكشوط الدولي) was an airport located in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. It closed in June 2016 upon the opening of Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport, north of ...
in June 2016. The Cairo–Dakar Highway leg from Nouakchott to Nouadhibou was paved in 2004, although the Nouakchott-
Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The Ar ...
leg was paved before independence. A road (''Route d'Espoir'' (Road of Hope)) connects the city with
Néma Néma is a town in southeastern Mauritania, close to the border with Mali. It is located at around at the eastern end of the Aoukar. It is the capital of Hodh Ech Chargui Region and of the Néma Department. While the urban population of Nema ...
via
Boutilimit Boutilimit ( ar, بوتلميت) lies 164 km south east of Mauritania's capital of Nouakchott. The estimated population in 2005 was 27,170. The town is also well known in the region for its production of handicraft items, particularly rug ...
and
Kiffa Kiffa () is a large town in the far south region of Mauritania, and the name of an administrative area within the local Assaba Region. Kiffa is located at , some from the coast and at the western end of the Aoukar sand sea of southern Mauritani ...
. In the city, there is a public transport and commuter system, with vehicles serving major boulevards. On July 2022 a tramway project was presented, without a scheduled opening date.


Education

The city is home to the University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya, the main university in
Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
, opened in 1981. As of 1995, it had 70
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
s and 2,800 students. Other higher education facilities include the Lebanese International University of Mauritania, the National School of Administration, the College of Science and Technology and the Higher Scientific Institute. There are many primary and secondary schools, among the most prominent are the American International School of Nouakchott and the Lycée Français Théodore Monod.


Culture

Attractions in Nouakchott include the National Museum of Mauritania, the
National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...
and the National Archives. The city hosts several markets, including the Marocaine market and the
beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc s ...
es. One beach is devoted to fishing boats where fish can be bought fresh at the
Fish market A fish market is a marketplace for selling fish and fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type of wet ma ...
. Nouakchott is a principal selling place of native Saharan meteorites. The Saudi Mosque, one of Nouakchott's twelve mosques


Places of worship

Among the
places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...
, they are predominantly
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
mosques. There are also
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
churches and temples :
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nouakchott The Diocese of Nouakchott is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church situated in Nouakchott, Mauritania. It is the only Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Mauritania. The Cathedral of St. Joseph is located in N ...
(
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
),
Protestant churches Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
,
Evangelical Churches Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...
.


Sport

Nouakchott hosts six of the fourteen teams of the
Mauritanian Premier League Super D1 ( ar, الدوري الموريتاني الممتاز), is the top division of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. It was created in 1976. Current clubs (2021–22) Previous winners *1976: AS Garde Natio ...
.


Twin towns – Sister cities

Nouakchott is twinned with: *
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, Spain (1986) *
Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...
, Jordan (1999) *
Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...
, China (2000)


See also

* List of cities in Mauritania *
Transport in Mauritania Citizens of Mauritania have various transportation methods. Railways and highways connect major cities in the country. Mauritania is a coastal country so there are many ports along its coast and there are a few big rivers that run through the count ...


References


Further reading

* Armelle Choplin et Riccardo Ciavolella, 2008. " Marges de la ville en marge du politique ? Logiques d’exclusion, de dépendance et d’autonomie à Nouakchott (Mauritanie) », Autrepart, n°45. * Choplin A., 2006. ''Fabriquer des villes-capitales entre monde arabe et Afrique noire: Nouakchott (Mauritanie) et Khartoum (Soudan), étude comparée''. Université Paris 1, 535 p. * Choplin A., 2006. ''Le foncier urbain en Afrique: entre informel et rationnel, de Nouakchott, Mauritanie'', Les annales de géographie, n°647, pp. 69–91. * Anne-Marie Frérot, ''Nouakchott, du puits nomade à la ville des pétroliers. Risques et représentations'', ''Maghreb-Machrek'', n°190, c. December 2006 – 2007. * Philippe Tanguy, « L'urbanisation irrégulière à Nouakchott: 1960-2000 », ''Insaniyat'', n°22, October - December 2003, (vol. VII, 4). * Diagana I., 1993. ''Croissance urbaine et dynamique spatiale à Nouakchott, Thèse doct.'': géographie: Lyon II, 314 p. * Pitte J.-R., 1977. ''Nouakchott, capitale de la Mauritanie''. Paris : Univ. de Paris-Sorbonne, p. 200. * Mohamed Salem Ideidbi, Mauritanie : la Richesse d'une nation, Nouakchott, al-Manar, 2011.


External links

* {{Authority control Capitals in Africa Planned cities Populated coastal places in Mauritania Populated places in Mauritania