Mauritania

A country straddling the line between Arab and Black Africa, and the last state on earth to abolish slavery. Mauritania is mostly Sahara, and its society was built around Arab-Berber nomadic confederations in the north and Black African farming peoples along the Senegal river in the south, a division that structures its politics entirely. The Almoravid movement began among nomads here in the eleventh century and went on to rule Morocco and Muslim Spain. France established control slowly and independence came in 1960, with the capital Nouakchott built essentially from nothing. Iron ore from Zouerate has been the main export, carried on one of the longest trains in the world. Slavery was legally abolished in 1981, the last country to do so, and criminalised only in 2007; hereditary servitude among the Haratin persists in practice and prosecutions are rare. The country joined and then left the war over Western Sahara in the 1970s. Drought since the 1970s has pushed most of the population off the land and into the cities. Chinguetti's libraries hold medieval manuscripts. It left the Economic Community of West African States in 2000. The country covers over a million square kilometres and has about five million people. Arabic is official, with Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof recognised. The Banc d'Arguin is a World Heritage site and a major bird migration stop. The Richat structure in the desert is visible from orbit. Fishing licences sold to foreign fleets are a significant revenue source. Offshore gas discovered on the Senegalese border began production in 2025.

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