Mauritania
sovereign state in West Africa and North Africa
Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to the north and northwest, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the southwest. By land area Mauritania is the 11th-largest country in Africa and the 28th-largest in the world; 90% of its territory is in the Sahara desert. Most of its population of 5.4 million live in the temperate south of the country; roughly a third of the population is concentrated in the capital and largest city, Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast.
The country's name derives from Mauretania, the Latin name for a region, to the north, in the ancient Mediterranean Maghreb. Mauretania extended from central present-day northern Algeria to the Atlantic, in Morocco. Berbers occupied what is now Mauritania by the beginning of the 3rd century CE. Groups of Arab tribes migrated to this area in the late 7th century, bringing with them Islam, Arab culture, and the Arabic language. In the early 20th century, Mauritania was colonized by France as part of French West Africa. It achieved independence in 1960. The country has since experienced recurrent coups and periods of military dictatorship.
The public source identifies “Mauritania” as sovereign state in West Africa and North Africa. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mauritania, sovereign and state.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Mauritania”, the useful work is to connect “sovereign state in West Africa and North Africa” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1025. VIAF identifies the subject as 143005264. The Library of Congress control number is n79061287. Authority coordinates are 21.000, -11.000. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mauritania”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mauritania primary sources, Mauritania archive and Mauritania research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mauritania”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mauritania” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.