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Updates: 

Update 3 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes, the successor to FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2011-02-28. It changes the capitalization of two province names, and assigns a code for Nouakchott district.

I've acquired the populations of the regions according to the 2000 census. Zouérate is the new capital of Tiris Zemmour (see below). Also, the population of Assaba in 1988 was apparently 168,123, not 167,123 as it appears in "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries". That makes the total population of Mauritania 1,865,236, not 1,864,236.

Country overview: 

Short name	MAURITANIA
ISO code	MR
FIPS code	MR
Language	Arabic (ar), French (fr)
Time zone	+0
Capital	Nouakchott

 

Mauritania was an indigenous state within the French sphere of influence in 1900. It became a French protectorate in 1903-05. In ~1920 it became a colony within the gouvernement général of French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française). It became independent on 1960-11-28.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Mauretanien
2. Dutch: Mauritanië, Islamitische Republiek Mauritanië (formal)
3. English: Islamic Arab and African Republic of Mauritania (formal)
4. Finnish: Mauritania
5. French: Mauritanie, République f Islamique Arabe et Africaine de Mauritanie f (formal)
6. German: Mauretanien n
7. Icelandic: Máritanía
8. Italian: Mauritania f
9. Norwegian: Den islamske republikk Mauritania (formal) (Bokmål), Den islamske republikken Mauritania (formal) (Nynorsk), Mauritania
10. Portuguese: Mauritânia, República f Islâmica da Mauritânia f (formal)
11. Russian: Исламская Республика Мавритания (formal)
12. Spanish: Mauritania, República f Islámica de Mauritania f (formal)
13. Swedish: Mauretanien
14. Turkish: Moritanya İslam Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Latin name, derived from Maurus: Moor (ethnic name)

Primary subdivisions: 

Mauritania is divided into twelve régions and one district.

Region	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Rom	Spelled	Pop-2000	Pop-1988	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Adrar	MR.AD	07	MR07	VII	Septième	60,847	61,043	215,300	83,100	Atar
Assaba	MR.AS	03	MR03	III	Troisième	249,596	168,123	36,600	14,100	Kiffa
Brakna	MR.BR	05	MR05	V	Cinquième	240,167	192,157	33,800	13,100	Aleg
Dakhlet Nouadhibou	MR.DN	08	MR08	VIII	Huitième	75,976	63,030	22,300	8,600	Nouadhibou
Gorgol	MR.GO	04	MR04	IV	Quatrième	248,980	184,359	13,600	5,300	Kaédi
Guidimaka	MR.GD	10	MR10	X	Dixième	186,697	116,436	10,300	4,000	Sélibaby
Hodh ech Chargui	MR.HC	01	MR01	I	Première	275,288	212,203	182,700	70,500	Néma
Hodh el Gharbi	MR.HG	02	MR02	II	Deuxième	219,167	159,296	53,400	20,600	Aioun el Atrouss
Inchiri	MR.IN	12	MR12	XII	Douzième	11,322	14,613	46,800	18,100	Akjoujt
Nouakchott	MR.NO	NKC	MR13			611,883	393,325	1,000	400	Nouakchott
Tagant	MR.TG	09	MR09	IX	Neuvième	61,984	64,908	95,200	36,800	Tidjikdja
Tiris Zemmour	MR.TZ	11	MR11	XI	Onzième	53,586	33,147	252,900	97,600	Zouérate
Trarza	MR.TR	06	MR06	VI	Sixième	252,664	202,596	67,800	26,200	Rosso
13 divisions						2,548,157	1,865,236	1,031,700	398,300
Region: except for Nouakchott, which is a district. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Rom: Each region is given a Roman numeral to identify it in reports, etc. Spelled: French ordinal corresponding to the Roman numeral. Pop-2000: 2000-11-01 census. Pop-1988: 1988-04-05 census.

Further subdivisions:

See the Departments of Mauritania page.

The regions are further subdivided into départements.

Territorial extent: 

Dakhlet Nouadhibou includes Île Tidra, just off shore.

Origins of names: 

1. Adrar: Touareg for mountain
2. Nouakchott: from Berber in: place of, akchuz: shell

Change history: 

Before independence, the divisions were called cercles (circles).

1. 1954-01-01: Hodh district of French Sudan annexed to Mauritania.
2. 1957: Nouakchott was founded at the site of a military installation at Ksar. It was to become the capital of Mauritania at independence. As part of French West Africa, Mauritania was governed from Saint-Louis du Sénégal, in Senegal.
3. ~1962: Tiris Zemmour region split from Adrar.
4. 1976-02-28: Mauritania annexed the southern part of Spanish Sahara as Tiris el Gharbia region. The 1976 census (source [2]) apparently includes this region:

Region	Population	Equivalent
Nouakchott	134,986	Nouakchott
1st	205,545	Hodh Ech Chargui
2nd	133,952	Hodh El Gharbi
3rd	130,517	Assaba
4th	150,556	Gorgol
5th	151,060	Brakna
6th	216,735	Trarza
7th	55,482	Adrar
8th	24,460	Dakhlet Nouadhibou
9th	76,608	Tagant
10th	87,107	Guidimaka
11th	22,467	Tiris Zemmour
12th	17,567	Inchiri
Wilaya du Tiris	12,897	Tiris el Gharbia
Total	1,419,939
Region: Nouakchott is a district. Population: 1976-12-22 census (provisional).

1. 1979-08-14: Mauritania withdrew from Tiris el Gharbia, which was annexed to Western Sahara by Morocco.
2. ~1979: Name of Lévrier Bay region changed to Dakhlet Nouadhibou.
3. ~1998: Capital of Tiris Zemmour moved from Fderik (colonial name Fort-Gouraud) to Zouérate.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Assaba: Açaba, el-`Açâba (variant)
2. Dakhlet Nouâdhibou: Baie du Lévrier (French-obsolete); Lévrier Bay (obsolete)
3. Guidimaka: Guidimagha, Guidimakha (variant)
4. Hodh ech Chargui: Eastern Hodh, Hodh Charghi (variant); Hodh Oriental (French)
5. Hodh el Gharbi: Hodh Occidental (French); Western Hodh (variant)
6. Nouadhibou: Port-Étienne (French-obsolete)
7. Nouakchott: Nuakchot (Spanish)

Sources: 

1. [1] Toupet, Charles. Les Atlas Jeune Afrique: Atlas de la République Islamique de Mauritanie. Édition J.A., Paris, 1977.
2. [2] 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28).