Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976, but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Opposition parties were legalized and a new constitution approved in 1991. Two multiparty presidential elections since then were widely seen as flawed, but October 2001 legislative and municipal elections were generally free and open. Mauritania remains, in reality, a one-party state. The country continues to experience ethnic tensions between its black minority population and the dominant Maur (Arab-Berber) populace.

iron ore, gypsum, copper, phosphate, diamonds, gold, oil, fish

arable land: 0.48%
permanent crops: 0.01%
other: 99.51% (1998 est.)

2,912,584 (July 2003 est.)

mixed Maur/black 40%, Maur 30%, black 30%

Muslim 100%

Hassaniya Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof (official), French

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 41.7%
male: 51.8%
female: 31.9% (2003 est.)

Nouakchott

republic

28 November 1960 (from France)

Independence Day, 28 November (1960)