--- title: Nouakchott — English Wikipedia · full text with trees description: Wikipedia's «Nouakchott», whole, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics, CC BY-SA 4.0. It begins: Nouakchott (/nwækˈʃɒt,_nwɑː-/ nwa(h)k-SHOT) is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Nouakchott/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [wikipedia](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/) / [en](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/) / Nouakchott # Nouakchott From Wikipedia, [«Nouakchott»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouakchott), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too. The English Wikipedia article «Nouakchott», whole: 20 sections, 107 sentences and 2080 words, its 58 notes at the end. The marks in brackets «[n]» are Wikipedia's own, each leading to its note and source; the small number after every sentence leads to the sentence's own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Nouakchott/page/2/) | Facts | | | --- | --- | | | **Nouakchott · نواكشوط · Nuwaasoot · Nuwaaksoot · Nuwasooto** | | | **[Capital city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_city)** | | | City view of Nouakchott | | | Coordinates: [\[1\]](page/2/#ref-1 "note 1") | | [Wilaya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Mauritania) | [Nouakchott-Nord](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouakchott-Nord); [Nouakchott-Ouest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouakchott-Ouest); [Nouakchott-Sud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouakchott-Sud) | | **Government** | | | • Body | [Regional Council of Nouakchott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Council_of_Nouakchott) | | • Council president | [Fatimatou Abdel Malick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatimatou_Abdel_Malick) ([El Insaf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Insaf)) | | **Area** | | | • Total | 1,000 km² (386 sq mi) | | Elevation | 7 m (23 ft) | | **Population (2023 census)** | | | • Total | 1,446,761 | | • Density | 1,446.8/km² (3,747.1/sq mi) | | [Time zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone) | [UTC+00:00](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC+00:00) ([GMT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Mean_Time)) | Nouakchott (/nwækˈʃɒt,\_nwɑː-/ nwa(h)k-SHOT)[\[4\]](page/2/#ref-4 "note 4") is the [capital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_city) and largest city of [Mauritania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritania) [corpus](../Mauritania/ "in our corpus").[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Located in the southwestern part of the country, it is one of the largest cities in the [Sahara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara).[\[5\]](page/2/#ref-5 "note 5")[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") The city also serves as the administrative and economic center of Mauritania.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") Once a mid-sized coastal village, Nouakchott was selected as the capital for the nascent nation of Mauritania, with construction beginning in 1958.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought) and increasing [desertification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification).[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") Many of the newcomers settled in [slum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slum) areas of the city that were poorly maintained and extremely overcrowded.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") By the mid-1980s, Nouakchott's population was estimated to be between 400,000 and 500,000.[\[6\]](page/2/#ref-6 "note 6")[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") as of 2023, the city had a population of nearly 1.5 million people and serves as the hub of the Mauritanian economy.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") It is home to a [deepwater port](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port) and [Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouakchott–Oumtounsy_International_Airport), one of the country's two international airports.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") It also hosts the [University of Nouakchott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Nouakchott_Al_Aasriya) and several other more specialized institutions of higher learning.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") [fa:نواکشوط](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa:نواکشوط)[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") ## History See also: [Timeline of Nouakchott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Nouakchott) Before 1958, Nouakchott was a small fishing town,[\[7\]](page/2/#ref-7 "note 7") having been a fortified fishing village (ksar) in pre-colonial times and under [French rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_West_Africa).[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") As Mauritania prepared for independence, it lacked a capital city.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") The area of present-day Nouakchott was chosen by [Moktar Ould Daddah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moktar_Ould_Daddah), the first President of Mauritania, and his advisors.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Ould Daddah desired the new capital to symbolize modernity and national unity, which ruled out existing cities or towns in the interior.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") The village was selected as the capital city for its central location between [Saint-Louis, Senegal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Louis,_Senegal), the city from which the colony of Mauritania was governed, and [Nouadhibou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouadhibou).[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") The village of Nouakchott was originally inhabited by the tribe of Bouhoubainy who are of [Amazigh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers) origin and are native to it.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") They have since been moved to different settlements notably Aknodert which is situated between Nouakchott and the International Airport.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people).[\[8\]](page/2/#ref-8 "note 8")[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") 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,[\[9\]](page/2/#ref-9 "note 9") and the basics were completed by the time that the French granted independence on 28 November 1960.[\[10\]](page/2/#ref-10 "note 10")[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") Nouakchott was planned with the expectation that commerce and other economic activities would not take place in the city.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Nouakchott's [central business district](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](22/ "tree and pragmatics") During the 1960s, the city obtained its own local government.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") 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.[\[8\]](page/2/#ref-8 "note 8")[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") The city was attacked twice in 1976 by the [Polisario Front](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polisario_Front) during the [Western Sahara conflict](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Sahara_conflict), but the guerrillas caused little damage.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") The city has had massive and unconstrained growth, driven by the North African [drought](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought), since the beginning of the 1970s; hundreds of thousands moved there in search of a better life.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") The official censuses showed 134,000 residents in 1977 and 393,325 in 1988, although both figures were probably smaller than reality.[\[8\]](page/2/#ref-8 "note 8")[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") The population is now estimated to consist of at least one third of the country's population of 3.3 million,[\[11\]](page/2/#ref-11 "note 11") and the 2013 census showed a population of 958,399.[\[12\]](page/2/#ref-12 "note 12")[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") ## Geography Located on the [Atlantic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean) coast of the Sahara Desert, it lies on the west coast of Africa.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") With the exception of [Friendship Port](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Port_of_Nouakchott) and a small fishing [port](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port), the coastal strip is mostly left empty and allowed to flood.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") The coastline includes shifting [sandbanks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoal) and sandy beaches.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") There are areas of [quicksand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksand) close to the harbor.[\[13\]](page/2/#ref-13 "note 13")[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") Nouakchott is largely flat, and some of the city lies below sea level.[\[14\]](page/2/#ref-14 "note 14")[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") It is threatened by the sand dunes advancing from its eastern side which pose a daily problem.[\[15\]](page/2/#ref-15 "note 15")[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") There have been efforts to save particular areas, including work by Jean Meunier.[\[16\]](page/2/#ref-16 "note 16")[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") Owing to the rapid build-up, the city is quite spread out, with few tall buildings.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") Most buildings are one-story.[\[17\]](page/2/#ref-17 "note 17")[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") Nouakchott is built around a large tree-lined street, Avenue Gamal Abdel Nasser, which runs northeast through the city centre from the airport.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") It divides the city into two, with the residential areas in the north and the [medina quarter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medina_quarter), along with the kebbe, a shanty town formed due to the displacement of people from other areas by the desert.[\[18\]](page/2/#ref-18 "note 18")[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") Other major streets are named (in [French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language)) for notable Mauritanian or international figures of the 1960s: Avenue Gamal Abdel Nasser, Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Avenue Kennedy, and Avenue Lumumba, for example.[\[19\]](page/2/#ref-19 "note 19")[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") The kebbe consists of [cement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement) buildings that are built overnight and made to look permanent to avoid destruction by the authorities.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") 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.[\[20\]](page/2/#ref-20 "note 20")[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") The city is broken into nine arrondissements, sub-divided into alphabetized Îlots.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") These are Teyarett, Ksar, Tevragh-Zeïna, Toujounine, Sebkha, El Mina, Dar-Naïm, Arafat and Riad.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") The Sebkha (Cinquième) Arrondissement is home to a large shopping area.[\[19\]](page/2/#ref-19 "note 19")[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") ### Climate Nouakchott features a [hot desert climate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_desert_climate) ([Köppen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Köppen_climate_classification): BWh) with hot temperatures throughout the year but cool winter night temperatures.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") Due to the city's oceanside location, Nouakchott is generally not quite as hot as other cities with the same climate.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Still, the city can experience sweltering days.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") 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](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Minimum temperatures can fall below 10 C during winter nights in Nouakchott.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") Average rainfall in the city is 95 mm a year.[\[21\]](page/2/#ref-21 "note 21")[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") #### Climate change A 2019 paper published in [PLOS One](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLOS_One) estimated that under [Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_Concentration_Pathway#4.5), a "moderate" scenario of [climate change](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khartoum) [corpus](../Khartoum/ "in our corpus").[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") 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.[\[22\]](page/2/#ref-22 "note 22")[\[23\]](page/2/#ref-23 "note 23")[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") According to [Climate Action Tracker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Action_Tracker), the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 C-change, which closely matches RCP 4.5.[\[24\]](page/2/#ref-24 "note 24")[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") \| source = Office National de la Météorologie (ONM)[\[25\]](page/2/#ref-25 "note 25")[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** 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