Geography
Located on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara Desert, it lies on the west coast of Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean. With the exception of Nouakchott Wharf and a deep water port, the coastal strip is mostly left empty and allowed to flood. The coastline includes shifting sandbanks, and sandy beaches. There are also areas of quicksand close to the harbour. The city is being covered by the sand dunes advancing from its eastern side (salmon-coloured on image to left), which pose a daily problem. There have been efforts to save particular areas, including work by Jean Meunier. The city is largely flat.
Owing to the rapid build-up, the city is quite spread out, with few tall buildings. Most buildings are one-storey only. It also often acts as an interface between urban Mauritanians and their nomadic fellow citizens.
Nouakchott is built around a large tree-lined street, Avenue Abdel Nasir, which runs northeast through the city centre from the airport. Other major streets are named (in French) for notable Mauritanian or international figures of the 1960s: Avenue Abdel Nasser, Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Avenue Kennedy, and Avenue Lumumba, for example.
The city is broken into numbered arrondissements, sub-divided into alphabetised Îlots. The Cinquième Arrondissement is home to a large shopping area.
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