Mauritania
Fast facts
- Capital
- Nouakchott
- Official language
- Arabic
- Languages
- English, Italian, Spanish
- Currency
- Ouguiya
- Time zone
- GMT
- Drives on
- right
- Calling code
- +222
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Mauritania” page (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Mauritania is a country in northwest Africa. The capital city, which is also the biggest city in the country, is Nouakchott. It is on the Atlantic coast. Its president is General Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.
At 1,030,700 km² (397,929 mi²), Mauritania is the world’s 29th-largest country (after Bolivia). It is similar in size to Egypt. The land is flat in most places.
Religion
Mauritania is almost 100% Muslim, most of whom are Sunni. People can be killed in Mauritania for being an atheist. On 27 April 2018, The National Assembly passed a law that allows for the death penalty for certain apostasy-related crimes.
Afro-Asiatic languages
Modern Standard Arabic is the official language of Mauritania. Hassaniya is the Arabic dialect that is widely spoken throughout the country. It is mostly used in daily life.
Berber languages
There are also some Berber languages that are spoken in Mauritania. In the south Zenaga is spoken and close to the border with Mali in the southeast Tamasheq (a variety of Tuareg) is spoken. Zenaga is only spoken by a few hundred people and seems to be close to disappearance.
Foreign languages
As Mauritania is a former colony of France, it is now part of the Francophonie. French is spoken including African French and Maghreb French.
Niger-Congo languages
There are several Niger-Congo languages that are spoken in Mauritania. These are Wolof, Soninke, Pulaar and Bambara.
Economy
Mauritania is rich in natural resources but has a low GDP. Many people living in Mauritania depend on farming and livestock. Mauritania has a large deposit of iron ore, which is almost half of the country’s total exports.
Written for younger readers
Mauritania, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Countries A-Z
additional-native-names= Wolof Gànnaar French Mauritanie
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Mauritania” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
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