📰 Nouakchott

Nouakchott (/nwækˈʃɒt,_nwɑː-/ nwa(h)k-SHOT)[4] is the capital and largest city of Mauritania corpus.1 Located in the southwestern part of the country, it is one of the largest cities in the Sahara.[5]2 The city also serves as the administrative and economic center of Mauritania.3

Once a mid-sized coastal village, Nouakchott was selected as the capital for the nascent nation of Mauritania, with construction beginning in 1958.4 It was originally designed to accommodate a population of 15,000, but experienced significant population growth in the 1970s when many Mauritanians fled their home villages due to drought and increasing desertification.5 Many of the newcomers settled in slum areas of the city that were poorly maintained and extremely overcrowded.6 By the mid-1980s, Nouakchott's population was estimated to be between 400,000 and 500,000.[6]7

as of 2023, the city had a population of nearly 1.5 million people and serves as the hub of the Mauritanian economy.8 It is home to a deepwater port and Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport, one of the country's two international airports.9 It also hosts the University of Nouakchott and several other more specialized institutions of higher learning.10

fa:نواکشوط11

History

See also: Timeline of Nouakchott

Before 1958, Nouakchott was a small fishing town,[7] having been a fortified fishing village (ksar) in pre-colonial times and under French rule.12 As Mauritania prepared for independence, it lacked a capital city.13 The area of present-day Nouakchott was chosen by Moktar Ould Daddah, the first President of Mauritania, and his advisors.14 Ould Daddah desired the new capital to symbolize modernity and national unity, which ruled out existing cities or towns in the interior.15 The village was selected as the capital city for its central location between Saint-Louis, Senegal, the city from which the colony of Mauritania was governed, and Nouadhibou.16 The village of Nouakchott was originally inhabited by the tribe of Bouhoubainy who are of Amazigh origin and are native to it.17 They have since been moved to different settlements notably Aknodert which is situated between Nouakchott and the International Airport.18 One of the intentions of choosing this location was to avoid the sensitive issue of whether the capital was built in an area dominated by the Arabs and Amazigh (Berbers) or Sub-Saharan Africans.[8]19

Construction began in March 1958 to enlarge the village to house a population of 15,000, in 1959 Nouakchott started with its founding by indigenous people from the surrounding region,[9] and the basics were completed by the time that the French granted independence on 28 November 1960.[10]20 Nouakchott was planned with the expectation that commerce and other economic activities would not take place in the city.21 Nouakchott's central business district was planned with broad streets and a grid-like structure; the new Cinquième Quartier (Fifth District) was located close to this area and became the location of a large open-air market and residential area within a few years.22 During the 1960s, the city obtained its own local government.23 By the 1970s, these new areas had grown so much that they replaced the old ksar in terms of importance, as they also hosted the governmental buildings and state enterprises.[8]24

The city was attacked twice in 1976 by the Polisario Front during the Western Sahara conflict, but the guerrillas caused little damage.25 The city has had massive and unconstrained growth, driven by the North African drought, since the beginning of the 1970s; hundreds of thousands moved there in search of a better life.26 The official censuses showed 134,000 residents in 1977 and 393,325 in 1988, although both figures were probably smaller than reality.[8]27 The population is now estimated to consist of at least one third of the country's population of 3.3 million,[11] and the 2013 census showed a population of 958,399.[12]28

Geography

Located on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara Desert, it lies on the west coast of Africa.29 With the exception of Friendship Port and a small fishing port, the coastal strip is mostly left empty and allowed to flood.30 The coastline includes shifting sandbanks and sandy beaches.31 There are areas of quicksand close to the harbor.[13]32 Nouakchott is largely flat, and some of the city lies below sea level.[14]33 It is threatened by the sand dunes advancing from its eastern side which pose a daily problem.[15]34 There have been efforts to save particular areas, including work by Jean Meunier.[16]35 Owing to the rapid build-up, the city is quite spread out, with few tall buildings.36 Most buildings are one-story.[17]37

Nouakchott is built around a large tree-lined street, Avenue Gamal Abdel Nasser, which runs northeast through the city centre from the airport.38 It divides the city into two, with the residential areas in the north and the medina quarter, along with the kebbe, a shanty town formed due to the displacement of people from other areas by the desert.[18]39 Other major streets are named (in French) for notable Mauritanian or international figures of the 1960s: Avenue Gamal Abdel Nasser, Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Avenue Kennedy, and Avenue Lumumba, for example.[19]40

The kebbe consists of cement buildings that are built overnight and made to look permanent to avoid destruction by the authorities.41 In 1999, it was estimated that more than half of the city's inhabitants lived in tents and shacks, which were used for residential as well as business purposes.[20]42 The city is broken into nine arrondissements, sub-divided into alphabetized Îlots.43 These are Teyarett, Ksar, Tevragh-Zeïna, Toujounine, Sebkha, El Mina, Dar-Naïm, Arafat and Riad.44 The Sebkha (Cinquième) Arrondissement is home to a large shopping area.[19]45

Climate

Nouakchott features a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh) with hot temperatures throughout the year but cool winter night temperatures.46 Due to the city's oceanside location, Nouakchott is generally not quite as hot as other cities with the same climate.47 Still, the city can experience sweltering days.48 While average high temperatures are relatively constant at around 33 C, average low temperatures can range from 25 C during the fall months (in this city fall is hotter than summer, with September and October being the hottest months) to 13 C during the winter months.49 Minimum temperatures can fall below 10 C during winter nights in Nouakchott.50 Average rainfall in the city is 95 mm a year.[21]51

Climate change

A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~2.5-3 C-change by 2100, the climate of Nouakchott in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Khartoum corpus.52 The annual temperature would increase by 2.3 C-change, and the temperature of the warmest month by 2.8 C-change, while the temperature of the coldest month would decrease by 0.3 C-change.[22][23]53 According to Climate Action Tracker, the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 C-change, which closely matches RCP 4.5.[24]54 | source = Office National de la Météorologie (ONM)[25]55