MAURITANIA, a colony of French West Africa, bounded on the west by the Atlantic ocean and the Spanish Rio de Oro, on the north by the territories of South Algeria, on the east by French Sudan and on the south by Senegal. The area is 670,000 sq.km. and the population 351,625. It is a Saharan region except in the neighbourhood of the river Senegal. It comprises some mountainous massifs such as Adrar Tmar (5oo metres) and Tagant (450 metres), in which are several oases, and vast plains covered by sand and dunes. The coast, 600 km. long, is indented, between Cape Blanco and Cape Mirik, by several bays, notably those of Levrier and Arguin ; to the south of Cape Mink it is flat, straight and bordered by dunes. The population is com posed of a majority of Moors, chiefly Berbers crossed with Arabs and with negroes ; they are the descendants of the Zenaga, who founded, in the 11th century, the empire of the Almoravides.
The chief resources are gum, the salt of the sebkhas (10 to 12,000 tons), fishing around Port-Etienne, the rearing of camels, horses, sheep, goats and asses. Internal trade is very active between Moors and negroes who furnish them with millet in exchange for dates and salt. External trade is effected by river and almost solely with Senegal. The principal towns are Port-Etienne (French fisheries, wireless station), in the Bay of Levrier, Boghe and Kaedi. The lieutenant-governor resides at Saint Louis.
See La Mauritanie (publication of the General Government of West Africa, 1906) ; Gruvel et Bouyat, Les pecheries de la cote occidentale d'Afrique (Paris, 1906) ; E. Richet, La Mauritanie (Paris, 1920), with bibl.; Gruvel et Chudeau, A travers la Mauritanie occidentale (Paris, 1909).