Browse listings of B&B, Home Exchange, Vacation Rentals (furnished apartments, villas, cottages, condos, farmhouses and other types of accommodations) of Mauritania:
Last Minute Tips Before you Travel to Mauritania
- Time Zone: GMT/UTC 0
- Electricity: 220V, 50 Hz (bring an adapter/transformer for your hair drier, laptop, cellullar phone etc.)
- Currency: Ouguiya (UM)
- Country Dialing Code: 222
Must See - Properties on UNESCO World Heritage List by
- Banc d'Arguin National Park
- Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata
Mauritania
Location
Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Senegal and Western Sahara
Capital
Nouakchott
Population
3,086,859 (July 2005 est.)
Regions
12 regions (regions, singular - region) and 1 capital district*; Adrar, Assaba, Brakna, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Hodh Ech Chargui, Hodh El Gharbi, Inchiri, Nouakchott*, Tagant, Tiris Zemmour, Trarza
Climate
desert; constantly hot, dry, dusty
Ethnic groups
mixed Maur/black 40%, Moor 30%, black 30%
Religions
Muslim 100%
Languages
Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniya, Wolof
Government type
republic
Background
Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976, but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA siezed power in a coup in 1984. Opposition parties were legalized and a new constitution approved in 1991. Two multiparty presidential elections since then were widely seen as flawed, but October 2001 legislative and municipal elections were generally free and open. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council headed by Col. Ely Ould Mohamed VALL, which declared it would remain in power for up to two years while it created conditions for genuine democratic institutions and organized elections. For now, however, Mauritania remains an autocratic state, and the country continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population and different Moor (Arab-Berber) communities.
Visitor's Impressions
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