Population numbers: 3.89 million
How many square miles: 397,700 square miles
Geography fast facts (uniqueness):
- Mauritania passed a law to abolish slavery only in 1981. It is one of the last countries to do so.
- Despite the legislation against slavery, there still exists around 90,000 slaves in Mauritania according to 2003 estimates.
- Mauritania is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 40% of its population below poverty line.
- Aside from Madagascar, Mauritania is the only other country that does not use a decimal currency.
- One of the longest trains in the world is found in Mauritania. It measures almost three kilometers long.
- If you look at Mauritania from space, you can see a clear bullseye-like image called the Eye of Africa. Nobody knows yet for sure what created this gigantic ground sculpture.
- Two-thirds of Mauritania is covered by desert, which expands southward every year.
- Nouahchott, which means “place of the winds,” was designated as the country’s capital only in 1960 and is therefore one of the world’s newest capitals.
- Offshore oil was discovered in Mauritania in 2001.
- Mauritania’s tallest mountain, the 915-meter-tall Mount Ijill, is made almost entirely of hematite (iron ore).
Capital City: Nouakchott is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. It is one of the largest cities in the Sahara. The city is the administrative and economic centre of Mauritania.
Religion: Islam is by far the largest and most influential religion in the country, and has been since the 10th century. According to government census, 100% of the country’s citizens are Muslim. Like much of North Africa, Mauritanians follow the Maliki school of Islam.
