Ras Nouadhibou

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Ras Nouadhibou (Arabic: رأس نواذيبو‎) is a 40-mile peninsula or headland called also known as Cap Blanc (French), or Cabo Blanco (Spanish).

[edit] History

1958 map, showing what was then called Cap Blanc, divided between Spain and France
1958 map, showing what was then called Cap Blanc, divided between Spain and France

The Spanish originally claimed the land from 20° 51' N (near Cap Blanc) to 26° 8' N (near Cape Bojador) in 1885. This would be a protectorate governed from the Canary Islands in 1887. France would later claim the Western Sahara. The boundary was settled in a joint French-Spanish convention in 1900 to divide the area between Spanish Sahara and French West Africa. [1]

[edit] Location

This thin stretch of land is divided between Mauritania and Western Sahara. On the western side, lies the Sahrawi town of Lagouira; on the eastern side, less than a mile from the border, lies Mauritania's Nouadhibou (formerly Port Etienne).

[edit] References

Coordinates: 20°46′17″N, 17°2′50″W