A land of sand and river
Mauritania stretches from the Atlantic Ocean deep into the Sahara. Most of it is desert: wide plains, moving dunes and the rocky plateaus of the Adrar and the Tagant, where old caravan towns such as Chinguetti and Ouadane once kept libraries of handwritten books. In the far south the Senegal River marks the border with Senegal. There the summer rains and the river's yearly flood let farmers grow sorghum, millet and rice. Along the coast the cold ocean is full of fish, and the iron mountains of the north feed a train that is among the longest in the world.
About five million people live here. Half of them live in or around Nouakchott, the capital, a city built from almost nothing after independence in 1960. Many families moved there during the great droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, when herds died and the old life of moving with the camels became impossible for most.
The people and their past
The Moors, who speak Hassaniya Arabic, are the largest part of the population. Their society grew from Berber tribes of the desert and Arab tribes who arrived from the 1300s. Over centuries it formed a strict order: warrior tribes and scholarly tribes at the top, then craftsmen, praise singers and those who paid tribute, and at the bottom the Haratin, descendants of enslaved Africans. The Haratin speak the same Arabic and practise the same faith as the White Moors, but descent still sets them apart. Today they are the largest single community in the country.
In the south live Black African peoples who have farmed and fished along the Senegal River for a very long time: the Halpulaar, who speak Pulaar, the Soninke, heirs of the ancient Ghana empire whose capital lay in what is now eastern Mauritania, and a smaller number of Wolof. Along the coast, small fishing communities such as the Imraguen still catch mullet with the help of dolphins in the shallows of the Banc d'Arguin.
France ruled the land from the early 1900s until independence on 28 November 1960. In 1989 and 1990, a crisis with Senegal turned violent. Tens of thousands of Black Mauritanians were expelled to Senegal and Mali, and many Black soldiers were killed in 1990 and 1991. Some refugees came home between 2008 and 2012, but the wound is still open.
How people live today
Life is changing fast. Most people now live in towns, and only about 20,000 still lived as nomads at the 2023 census. Many work in trade, fishing, mining and government, while herding and farming support the countryside. Gold and, since 2025, offshore gas bring new money, but about a third of the people are poor, and jobs for young people are scarce.
Slavery was abolished only in 1981 and made a crime in 2007. Its legacy still shapes who owns land, who marries whom and who gets ahead. Anti-slavery activists have become a strong political voice, and in the 2024 presidential election one of them came second.
Mauritania also welcomes neighbours in need. Since 2012, Malians fleeing war have crossed into the south-east, and since 2023 far more have come, many with their herds. By the end of 2025 about 300,000 Malian refugees lived in Mauritania, in the large Mbera camp and in villages that share their wells and pastures with them. Migrants from Senegal, Mali, Guinea and other West African countries work in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou, and many try to sail from this coast to the Canary Islands.
Faith
Mauritania calls itself an Islamic republic, and Islam is part of almost every part of life. Nearly every citizen is a Sunni Muslim of the Maliki school. Sufi brotherhoods are important, and religious scholars are highly respected. Children learn the Quran in traditional schools, and the old towns of the desert are remembered as centres of Islamic learning across West Africa.
The church and freedom of belief
The law treats every citizen as Muslim. Leaving Islam or insulting it can, by law, bring the death penalty, a rule made harsher in 2018, although no one has been executed for it. Sharing another faith with Mauritanians is forbidden. A few churches in Nouakchott and some other towns serve foreigners, and citizens are not allowed to attend.
The few Mauritanians who follow Jesus usually do so in secret. When they are discovered, they can lose their families, their homes and their jobs. In 2023 police arrested a pastor and members of his congregation in the south after a video of a baptism spread online; they were released only after signing a statement. Believers ask for prayer for courage, for wisdom and for a day when Mauritanians can choose their faith freely.
