Africa
Sahel

Mauritania

Mauritania is a land of desert and ocean. It is of course no wonder that the main attractions for most tourists are the desert in Adrar and Tagant areas, and the ocean in Banc d'Arguin.
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Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Nouakchott and Nouadhibou.

Photo: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the capital of Mauritania and its largest city, with almost 1.2 million residents in 2019. The city is the hub of the Mauritanian economy and is home to a deepwater port and Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport, one of the country's two international airports.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is the second largest city in Mauritania. It's a major fishing centre and large industrial port.

Photo: Kokopelado, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Banc d'Arguin National Park is in , south of . It's inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is home to the Imraguen people.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Coastal Mauritania and Saharan Mauritania.

Photo: Sebastián Losada, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is a region of Mauritania.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is a region of Mauritania.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is a region of Mauritania.

Mauritania

  • Type: Country with 3,210,000 residents
  • Description: sovereign state in West Africa and North Africa
  • Also known as: “Agawej”, “Al Jumhūrīyah al Islāmīyah al Mūrītānīyah”, “Gannaar”, “Gànnaar”, “Islamic Republic of Mauritania”, “La Mauritanie”, “Mauretania”, “Mauritanian Islamic Republic”, “Moritani”, “mr”, “MTN”, “Muritanya”, “Murutaane”, “République Islamique de Mauritanie”, “République Islamique Mauritanienne”, and “毛利塔尼亚”
  • Languages: Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniyya, and Wolof
  • Neighbors: , , , , and
  • Categories: Islamic Republic, sovereign state, and locality
  • Location: ,
  • View on Open­Street­Map
Latitude of center
20.14° or 20° 8′ 24″ north
Longitude of center
-10.42° or 10° 25′ 12″ west
Population
3,210,000
Area
1,030,700 km² (397,955 miles²)
Elevation
388 metres (1,273 feet)
Capital
Currency
Ouguiya (MRU)
Phone code
.mr
Internet domain
222
Open­Street­Map ID
node 424316493
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­country
Geo­Names ID
2378080
Wiki­data ID
Q1025
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Mauritania from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Abkhazian to Zulu—“Mauritania” goes by many names.
  • Abkhazian: “Исламтәи Ареспублика Мавританиа”
  • Abkhazian: “Мавританиа”
  • Achinese: “Mauritania”
  • Adyghe: “Мауритание”
  • Afrikaans: “Mauritanië”
  • Afrikaans: “Mouritanië”
  • Akan: “Mɔretenia”
  • Albanian: “Mauritani”
  • Albanian: “Mauritania”
  • Amharic: “ሞሪታኒያ”
  • Amharic: “ሞሪቴኒያ”
  • Amis: “Mauritania”
  • Angika: “मॉरीतानिया”
  • Arabic: “الجمهورية الإسلامية الموريتانية”
  • Arabic: “موريتانيا”
  • Aragonese: “Mauritania”
  • Armenian: “Մավրիտանիա”
  • Arpitan: “Moritania”
  • Arpitan: “Môritanie”
  • Assamese: “মাউৰিটানিয়া”
  • Asturian: “Mauritania”
  • Atayal: “Mauritania”
  • Aymara: “Mauritania”
  • Azerbaijani: “Mavritaniya”
  • Balinese: “Mauritania”
  • Bambara: “Moritani”
  • Bambara: “Mɔritani”
  • Banjar: “Mauritania”
  • Bashkir: “Мавритания”
  • Basque: “Mauritania”
  • Bavarian: “Mauretanien”
  • Belarusian: “Маўрытанія”
  • Bengali: “মরিতানিয়া”
  • Bengali: “মৌরিতানিয়া”
  • Betawi: “Moritani”
  • Bhojpuri: “मॉरिटानिया”
  • Bhojpuri: “मॉरीटानिया”
  • Bishnupriya: “মৌরিতানিয়া”
  • Bislama: “Mauritania”
  • Bosnian: “Mauritanija”
  • Breton: “Maouritania”
  • Bulgarian: “Мавритания”
  • Burmese: “မော်ရီတေးနီးယား”
  • Burmese: “မော်ရီတေးနီးယားနိုင်ငံ”
  • Catalan: “Mauritània”
  • Catalan: “República Islàmica de Mauritània”
  • Cebuano: “Mauritania”
  • Cebuano: “Muritaniya”
  • Central Bikol: “Mauritanya”
  • Central Kanuri: “Mauritania”
  • Central Kurdish: “مۆریتانیا”
  • Chavacano: “Mauritania”
  • Chechen: “Мавритани”
  • Chinese: “Máolǐtǎníyà”
  • Chinese: “Mauritania”
  • Chinese: “毛里塔尼亚 / 茅利塔尼亞”
  • Chinese: “毛里塔尼亚”
  • Chinese: “毛里塔尼亞”
  • Chinese: “茅利塔尼亞”
  • Chuvash: “Мавритани”
  • Cornish: “Moritani”
  • Corsican: “Muritania”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Muritaniya”
  • Croatian: “Mauretanija”
  • Croatian: “Mauritanija”
  • Czech: “Mauretánie”
  • Czech: “Mauritánie”
  • Dagbani: “Mauritania”
  • Danish: “Mauretanien”
  • Dhivehi: “މޮރިޓާނިއާ”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Moritanya”
  • Dotyali: “मोरिटानिया”
  • Dutch: “Islamitische Republiek Mauritanië”
  • Dutch: “Mauretanie”
  • Dutch: “Mauritanië”
  • Dutch: “MR”
  • Dutch: “MRT”
  • Dzongkha: “མོ་རི་ཊེ་ནི་ཡ”
  • Eastern Mari: “Мавританий”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “موريتانيا”
  • Esperanto: “Islama Respubliko Maŭritanio”
  • Esperanto: “Maŭritanio”
  • Esperanto: “Maŭritanujo”
  • Estonian: “Mauritaania Islamivabariik”
  • Estonian: “Mauritaania”
  • Ewe: “Mauritania nutome”
  • Ewe: “Mauritania”
  • Ewe: “Moritania”
  • Extremaduran: “Mauritania”
  • Extremaduran: “Mauritánia”
  • Farefare: “Mauritania”
  • Faroese: “Móritania”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Mauritania”
  • Finnish: “Mauritania”
  • Finnish: “Mauritanian islamilainen tasavalta”
  • French: “la République islamique de Mauritanie”
  • French: “Mauritanie”
  • French: “MR”
  • French: “République islamique de Mauritanie”
  • Fulah: “Moritani”
  • Fulah: “Muritani”
  • Gagauz: “Mavritaniya”
  • Galician: “Mauritania”
  • Ganda: “Mauritania”
  • Ganda: “Mawulitenya”
  • Georgian: “მავრიტანია”
  • German: “Islamische Republik Mauretanien”
  • German: “Mauretanien”
  • German: “Mauritania”
  • German: “République islamique de Mauritanie”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Islamic Republic of Mauritania”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Mauretania”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Mauritania”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Moritani”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Muritanya”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Murutaane”
  • Gilaki: “مۊريتاني”
  • Gorontalo: “Mauritania”
  • Greek: “Μαυριτανία”
  • Guarani: “Mauritáña”
  • Guianese Creole French: “Moritani”
  • Gujarati: “મૌરિટાનિયા”
  • Haitian: “Moritani”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Mauritania”
  • Hausa: “Moritaniya”
  • Hausa: “Muritaniya”
  • Hawaiian: “Mauritania”
  • Hebrew: “מאוריטניה”
  • Hindi: “मारीतानिया”
  • Hindi: “मॉरिटानिया”
  • Hindi: “मॉरीटैनिया”
  • Hindi: “मॉरीतानिया”
  • Hindi: “मोरीतानिया”
  • Hungarian: “Mauritánia”
  • Hungarian: “Mauritániai Iszlám Köztársaság”
  • Icelandic: “Máritanía”
  • Ido: “Mauritania”
  • Igbo: “Mauritania”
  • Iloko: “Mauritania”
  • Inari Sami: “Mauritania islamlâš täsiväldi”
  • Inari Sami: “Mauritania”
  • Indonesian: “Mauritania”
  • Interlingua: “Mauritania”
  • Interlingue: “Mauritania”
  • Irish: “an Mháratáin”
  • Irish: “An Mháratáin”
  • Italian: “Mauritania”
  • Italian: “Repubblica Islamica di Mauritania”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Moritania”
  • Japanese: “モーリタニア・イスラム共和国”
  • Japanese: “モーリタニア”
  • Javanese: “Mauritania”
  • Kabiyè: “Moritaanii”
  • Kabuverdianu: “Mauritánia”
  • Kabyle: “Muriṭanya”
  • Kalaallisut: “Mauritania”
  • Kalmyk: “Сарта Маритдин Орн”
  • Kannada: “ಮಾರಿಟಾನಿಯ”
  • Kannada: “ಮಾರಿಟಾನಿಯಾ”
  • Kannada: “ಮಾರಿಟೇನಿಯಾ”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Mavritaniya”
  • Kashmiri: “مارٕٹانِیا”
  • Kazakh: “Мавритания”
  • Khmer: “មូរីតានី”
  • Khmer: “ម៉ូរីតានី”
  • Kikuyu: “Mauritania”
  • Kikuyu: “Moritania”
  • Kinyarwanda: “Moritaniya”
  • Kirghiz: “Мавритания”
  • Komering: “Mauritania”
  • Kongo: “Moritania”
  • Kongo: “Muritania”
  • Korean: “모리따니”
  • Korean: “모리따니이슬람공화국”
  • Korean: “모리타니”
  • Kotava: “Muritania”
  • Kurdish: “Morîtanya”
  • Kurdish: “مۆریتانیا”
  • Ladin: “Mauritania”
  • Ladino: “Mauritania”
  • Lao: “ມົວຣິເທເນຍ”
  • Latin: “Mauretania”
  • Latin: “Mauritania”
  • Latvian: “Mauritānija”
  • Lezghian: “Мавритания”
  • Ligurian: “Mauritania”
  • Limburgan: “Mauritanië”
  • Lingala: “Moritani”
  • Lingua Franca Nova: “Muritania”
  • Literary Chinese: “毛里塔尼亞”
  • Lithuanian: “Mauritanija”
  • Livvi: “Mavritanii”
  • Lombard: “Mauritània”
  • Low German: “Islamitiske Republik Mauritanie”
  • Low German: “Mauretanien”
  • Low German: “Mauritanie”
  • Low German: “Mauritanië”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Mauretańska”
  • Luba-Katanga: “Moritani”
  • Lule Sami: “Mauritádna”
  • Lule Sami: “Mauritánna”
  • Luxembourgish: “Mauretanien”
  • Macedo-Romanian: “Mauritania”
  • Macedonian: “Мавританија”
  • Madurese: “Mauritania”
  • Malagasy: “Maoritania”
  • Malay: “Mauritania”
  • Malayalam: “മൗറിത്താനിയ”
  • Malayalam: “മൗറിറ്റാനിയ”
  • Maltese: “il-Mauritania”
  • Maltese: “Mauritania”
  • Maltese: “Mawritanja”
  • Maltese: “Repubblika Iżlamika tal-Mauritania”
  • Manipuri: “ꯃꯥꯎꯔꯤꯇꯥꯅꯤꯌꯥ”
  • Manx: “Yn Varitaan”
  • Maori: “Mauritānia”
  • Marathi: “मॉरिटानिया”
  • Mazanderani: “موریتانی”
  • Mesopotamian Arabic: “موريتانيا”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Mauritania”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Mauritania”
  • Minangkabau: “Mauritania”
  • Mingrelian: “მავრიტანია”
  • Mirandese: “Mauritánia”
  • Moksha: “Мавритания”
  • Mongolian: “Мавритан”
  • Mongolian: “Мавритани”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “موريطانيا”
  • N'Ko: “ߡߏߙߌߕߊߣߌ߲߫”
  • Nauru: “Mauritania”
  • Navajo: “Shádiʼááhjí Ghą́ą́ʼaskʼidii Biłikahii Bikéyah”
  • Nepali: “माउरिटानिया”
  • Nepali: “मौरिटानिया”
  • Newari: “ईस्लामी गणतन्त्र माउरीतानीया”
  • Newari: “माउरी तानिया”
  • North Ndebele: “Mauritania”
  • Northern Frisian: “Mauretaanien”
  • Northern Luri: “موریتانی”
  • Northern Sami: “Mauretánia”
  • Northern Sami: “Mauritania islamlaš dásseváldi”
  • Northern Sami: “Mauritánia islamlaš dásseváldi”
  • Northern Sami: “Mauritania”
  • Northern Sami: “Mauritánia”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Den islamske republikken Mauritania”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Mauritania”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Mauritania”
  • Norwegian: “Mauritania”
  • Novial: “Moritania”
  • Obolo: “Mọritania”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Mauritània”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܡܘܪܝܛܢܝܐ”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Mauritania”
  • Oriya: “ମୋରିତାନିଆ”
  • Oriya: “ମୌରିଟାନିଆ”
  • Oromo: “Mooritaaniyaa”
  • Ossetian: “Мавритани”
  • Pali: “मारिटेनिया”
  • Pampanga: “Mauritania”
  • Panjabi: “ਮੋਰਿਟਾਨੀਆ”
  • Panjabi: “ਮੌਰੀਤਾਨੀਆ”
  • Papiamento: “Mauretania”
  • Papiamento: “Mauritania”
  • Pedi: “Mauritania”
  • Persian: “جمهوری اسلامی موریتانی”
  • Persian: “ماوریتانیا”
  • Persian: “موریتانی”
  • Piemontese: “Mauritania”
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: “Mauretania”
  • Polish: “Mauretania”
  • Portuguese: “Mauritânia”
  • Pushto: “موريتانيا”
  • Pushto: “موریتانیا”
  • Quechua: “Mauritania”
  • Quechua: “Mawritaniya”
  • Quechua: “Muritaniya”
  • Quechua: “Muritanya”
  • Romanian: “Mauritania”
  • Romansh: “Mauretania”
  • Rundi: “Moritaniya”
  • Russia Buriat: “Мавритан”
  • Russia Buriat: “Мавритани”
  • Russian: “Исламская Республика Мавритания”
  • Russian: “Мавритания”
  • Sakizaya: “Mauritania”
  • Samoan: “Mauritania”
  • Samogitian: “Maurėtanėjė”
  • Sango: “Moritanïi”
  • Sanskrit: “मारिटेनिया”
  • Santali: “ᱢᱚᱣᱨᱤᱛᱟᱱᱤᱭᱟ”
  • Sardinian: “Mauritània”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Mauretanien”
  • Scots: “Mauritanie”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Moratàinea”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Moratainia”
  • Serbian: “Mauritanija”
  • Serbian: “Исламска Република Мауританија”
  • Serbian: “Мауританија”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Mauritanija”
  • Shan: “မိူင်းမေႃႇရီႇတေးၼီးယႃး”
  • Shona: “Mauritania”
  • Shona: “Moritani”
  • Sicilian: “Mauritania”
  • Silesian: “Maurytańijo”
  • Sindhi: “ماريطانيہ”
  • Sindhi: “موريتانيا”
  • Sindhi: “موريطانيا”
  • Sinhala: “මොරිටේනියාව”
  • Skolt Sami: “Mauritania islaamlaž tääʹssväʹldd”
  • Skolt Sami: “Mauritania”
  • Slovak: “Mauritánia”
  • Slovak: “Mauritánska islamská republika”
  • Slovenian: “Mavretanija”
  • Somali: “Mauritania”
  • Somali: “Muritaaniya”
  • Somali: “Muuriitaaniya”
  • South Azerbaijani: “موريتانی”
  • South Azerbaijani: “موریتانی”
  • Southern Sotho: “Mauritania”
  • Spanish: “Mauritania”
  • Spanish: “Republica Islamica de Mauritania”
  • Spanish: “República Islámica de Mauritania”
  • Standard Moroccan Tamazight: “ⵎⵓⵔⵉⵜⴰⵏⵢⴰ”
  • Sundanese: “Mauritania”
  • Swahili: “Mauritania”
  • Swahili: “Moritania”
  • Swati: “IMolithaniya”
  • Swedish: “Islamiska republiken Mauretanien”
  • Swedish: “Mauretanien”
  • Swiss German: “Mauretanien”
  • Tachelhit: “Muritanya”
  • Tagalog: “Maritanya”
  • Tagalog: “Mauritania”
  • Tagalog: “Mauritanya”
  • Tajik: “Мавритания”
  • Talysh: “Mavritanijə”
  • Talysh: “Mavritaniyə”
  • Tamil: “மூரித்தானியா”
  • Tamil: “மௌரிடானியா”
  • Taroko: “Mauritania”
  • Tatar: “Мавритания”
  • Telugu: “మారిటానియా”
  • Telugu: “మౌరిటానియ”
  • Telugu: “మౌరిటేనియా”
  • Thai: “ประเทศมอริเตเนีย”
  • Thai: “มอริเตเนีย”
  • Tibetan: “མའུ་རི་ཏ་ནི་ཡ།”
  • Tibetan: “མཽ་རི་ཏ་ནི་ཡ།”
  • Tigrinya: “ሞሪታኒያ”
  • Tigrinya: “ሞሪቴኒያ”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “Maulitenia”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Mauretanien”
  • Tsonga: “Maritana”
  • Tumbuka: “Mauritania”
  • Tunisian Arabic: “موريتانيا”
  • Turkish: “Moritanya”
  • Turkmen: “Mawritaniýa”
  • Twi: “Mauritania”
  • Udmurt: “Мавритания”
  • Uighur: “ماۋرىتانىيە”
  • Ukrainian: “Ісламська Республіка Мавританія”
  • Ukrainian: “Мавританія”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Mawretanska”
  • Urdu: “موریتانیہ”
  • Urdu: “موریطانیہ”
  • Uzbek: “Mavritaniya”
  • Venetian: “Mauritania”
  • Venetian: “Mauritània”
  • Veps: “Mavritanii”
  • Vietnamese: “Mauritania”
  • Vietnamese: “Mauritanie”
  • Vietnamese: “Mô-ri-ta-ni-a (Mauritania)”
  • Vietnamese: “Mô-ri-ta-ni”
  • Vlax Romani: “Mauritaniya”
  • Volapük: “Moritän”
  • Võro: “Mauritaania”
  • Walloon: “Moritanreye”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Mauritania”
  • Welsh: “Mauritania”
  • Welsh: “Mawritania”
  • Western Balochi: “موریتانیا”
  • Western Frisian: “Mauretaanje”
  • Western Frisian: “Mauritaanje”
  • Western Frisian: “Mauritanië”
  • Western Mari: “Мавритани”
  • Western Panjabi: “موریطانیا”
  • Wolof: “Gànnaar”
  • Wolof: “Mooritani”
  • Wu Chinese: “毛里塔尼亚”
  • Xhosa: “Mauritania”
  • Yakut: “Мауритания”
  • Yiddish: “מאריטאניע”
  • Yiddish: “מאַריטאַניע”
  • Yoruba: “Maritania”
  • Yoruba: “Mauritania”
  • Yoruba: “Mauritáníà”
  • Yue Chinese: “Gànnaar”
  • Yue Chinese: “Mauritania”
  • Yue Chinese: “Mauritanie”
  • Yue Chinese: “Moritani”
  • Yue Chinese: “Mūrītāniyā”
  • Yue Chinese: “Murutaane”
  • Yue Chinese: “موريتانيا”
  • Yue Chinese: “毛里塔尼亞”
  • Zeeuws: “Mauritanië”
  • Zhuang: “Mauritania”
  • Zulu: “i-Mauritania”
  • Zulu: “IMoritaniya”
  • “ma Mulitanija”
  • “Mauritaania”
  • “Mauritanėjė”
  • “Mauritania”
  • “MR”
  • “MRT”
  • “MTN”
  • “मॉरिटानिया”

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Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Mauritania”. Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.