Nouadhibou

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 20°56′N 17°2′W / 20.933, -17.033
Nouadhibou
A street in Nouadhibou
Nouadhibou Location in Mauritania
Country	‎ Mauritania
Region	Dakhlet Nouadhibou Region
Population
- Total	90,000

Nouadhibou (Arabic: نواذيبو; formerly Port-Étienne; pop. ca. 90,000) is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as the country's commercial center.

It is situated on a 40-mile peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou, Cap Blanc, or Cabo Blanco, of which the western side, with the city of Lagouira, is part of Western Sahara. Nouadhibou is less than a mile from the border.

The city is divided into four major areas: the city centre, including the airport, Numerowatt to the north, the main residential area, Cansado to the south, a dormitory town for Port Minéralier, in the far south, from which iron ore mined in Zouerat is exported.

Attractions in Nouadibou include the Table Remarquable, several markets, a ships' graveyard and Mediterranean monk seals.

The major economic activity is fishing; however, the largest industry is processing iron ore transported by train from the interior mining towns of Zouérat and Fdérik. These freight trains can be as much as 3 km long, reputedly the longest in the world. The railway also carries passengers and calls at Choum.

From February 2006 onwards Nouadhibou has become the departure point for African migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands. This extremely dangerous route to reach the European Union has become popular as a result of stepped up emigration controls along the Moroccan coast and around the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in the second half of 2005.

The city is reputedly also a center of illegal trading of meteorites found in the Sahara. ^[1]