Nouakchott

Noukachott نواكشوط
The Grand Mosque in Nouakchott
Noukachott Map of Mauritania showing Nouakchott
Coordinates: 18°6′N 15°57′W / 18.100°N 15.950°W / 18.100; -15.950Coordinates: 18°6′N 15°57′W / 18.100°N 15.950°W / 18.100; -15.950
Country	Mauritania
Capital district	Nouakchott
Government
• Mayor	Maty Mint Hamady (2014 -)
Area
• Total	1,000 km2 (400 sq mi)
Elevation	7 m (23 ft)
Population (2013 census)
• Total	958,399
• Density	960/km2 (2,400/sq mi)

Nouakchott (/nwɑːkˈʃɒt/, Arabic: نواكشوط‎‎ Nuwākshūṭ, originally derived from Berber Nawākšūṭ, "place of the winds") is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. It is one of the largest cities in the Sahara. The city also serves as the administrative and economic centre of Mauritania.

Nouakchott was a small village of little importance until 1958, when it was chosen as the capital of the nascent nation of Mauritania. It was designed and built to accommodate 15,000 people, but droughts and increasing desertification since the 1970s have displaced a vast number of Mauritanians who resettled in Nouakchott. This caused massive urban growth and overcrowding, with the city having an official population of just under a million as of 2013. The resettled population inhabited slum areas under poor conditions, but the living conditions of a portion of these inhabitants have since been ameliorated.

The city is the hub of the Mauritanian economy and is home to a deepwater port and one of the country's two international airports. It hosts the University of Nouakchott and several other more specialized institutes of higher learning.

Nouakchott was a tiny, fortified fishing village (ksar) in pre-colonial times and under French rule. As Mauritania prepared for independence, it lacked a capital city and the area of present-day Nouakchott was chosen by Moktar Ould Daddah and his advisors. Ould Daddah desired for the new capital to be a symbol of modernity and national unity which ruled out existing cities or towns in the interior. 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. Its location also meant that it avoided the sensitive issue of whether the capital was built in an area dominated by the Arab-descended Moors or Black Africans.