Arguin is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately 6 km × 2 km in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park.
The Portuguese fort of Arguin
Plan of Arguin (1721)
Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to the north and northwest, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the southwest. By land area Mauritania is the 11th-largest country in Africa and 28th-largest in the world; 90% of its territory is in the Sahara. Most of its population of some 4.3 million lives in the temperate south of the country, with roughly a third concentrated in the capital and largest city, Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast.
Rock art in the Sahara Desert
The Portuguese Empire ruled Arguin (Portuguese: Arguim) from 1445, after Prince Henry the Navigator set up a feitoria, until 1633.
After the Portuguese, the Dutch, and then the French, took control of Arguin until abandoning it in 1685.
Nouakchott is the capital and the largest city of Mauritania. It is one of the largest cities in the Sahara.
