Independence Year : 1960
Population : 2670000
Life Expectancy : 50.8
Capital : 2509
GNP : 998.00
GNP Old : 1081.00
Local Name : Muritaniya/Mauritanie
Government Form : Republic
Location : Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Senegal and Western Sahara.
Terrain : Northern four-fifths barren desert; southern 20% mainly Sahelian with small scale irrigated and rainfed agriculture in the Senegal River basin.
Climate : Predominantly hot and dry
Ethnic Group : Arab-Berber (White Moor or Beydane), Arab-Berber-Negroid (Black Moor or Haritine), Haalpulaar, Soninke, Wolof.
Religions : Islam
Official Website :
www.mauritania.mr
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General Information - Mauritania
Background
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 being flawed; 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. .
(Source: CIA - The World Factbook)
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