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'''Mauritania''' is a nation of north-western [[Africa]], bounded by [[Senegal]], [[Mali]], [[Algeria]], [[Western Sahara]] and the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. Much of its terrirory is [[desert]] or semi-desert. It has a land area of 397,955 square miles (1,030,700 sq km) and a population of 3.27 million (2007 est). The capital city is [[Nouakchott]].
Mauritania was formerly a colony of [[France]] but gained independence in 1960. In 1976, in a partition agreement with [[Morocco]], Mauritania annexed the southern one-third of the former Spanish Sahara ([[Western Sahara]]) (the northern two-thirds being annexed by Morocco). Attacks by the Western Sahara independence movement [[Polisario]] led to Mauritania abandoning its Western Sahara territory in 1979; this was subsequently occupied and annexed by Morocco.
[[Category:African Countries]]