Mauritania Departments

Under the 15 regions of Mauritania sit 63 departments, from Ouadane, a stretch of the Adrar plateau larger than Austria, to Arafat, a suburb of Nouakchott a few kilometres across. This is the full list, grouped by the region each one belongs to.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Region: all 15
In the game: 63 departments

Start

What you are looking at

The departments (moughataas) of Mauritania, the second tier of the country. Most take the name of their chief town, so Atar, Kiffa and Rosso are each a town and a department at once.

The nine in Nouakchott are the smallest answers on the map, and the game gives them tap areas. They are the three of each of the capital's regions: Toujounine, Dar Naïm and Teyarett in the north, Sebkha, Ksar and Tevragh Zeina in the west, and Arafat, El Mina and Riad in the south.

Past the capital the map is uneven. The south is carved fine, with Hodh Chargui holding eight departments and Trarza seven, and the north is carved coarsely, so a few of its departments cover as much ground as a small country. Ouadane, Chinguetti and Tichit are all named for the old caravan towns of the Adrar and Tagant plateaus, and the first two were made in the last few years.

The groups are the regions, so the game lets you drill them one at a time. Each region answers under the same name in Mauritania Regions.

How to place one

Pick one region and learn it. Inchiri and Dakhlet Nouadhibou, with two departments each, are the shortest.
Do the river in order. From the coast the departments of Trarza, Brakna, Gorgol and Guidimagha follow the Senegal river up to Mali.
Learn the capital as a block. The nine Nouakchott departments sit on the coast and are easiest placed from the map of the city.
Treat the north as the empty half. Its departments are large, so they are the quickest to place.

Every department, by region

Adrar4 departments: Aoujeft, Atar, Chinguetti, Ouadane
Trarza7 departments: Boutilimit, Keur Macen, Mederdra, Ouad Naga, R'Kiz, Rosso, Tekane
Tagant3 departments: Moudjeria, Tichit, Tidjikja
Hodh Chargui8 departments: Adel Bagrou, Amourj, Bassiknou, Djiguenni, N'Beiket Lehwach, Néma, Oualata, Timbédra
Inchiri2 departments: Akjoujt, Bennechab
Brakna6 departments: Aleg, Bababé, Boghé, Maal, Magta Lahjar, M'Bagne
Assaba5 departments: Barkéol, Boumdeid, Guerou, Kankoussa, Kiffa
Tiris Zemmour3 departments: Bir Moughrein, F'Deirick, Zoueirat
Gorgol5 departments: Kaedi, Lexeiba, Maghama, M'Bout, Mounguel
Hodh El Gharbi5 departments: Aïoun, Kobeni, Tamchekett, Tintane, Touil
Dakhlet Nouadhibou2 departments: Chami, Nouadhibou
Guidimagha4 departments: Ghabou, Ould Yengé, Sélibaby, Wompou
Nouakchott Nord3 departments: Dar Naïm, Teyarett, Toujounine
Nouakchott Ouest3 departments: Ksar, Sebkha, Tevragh Zeina
Nouakchott Sud3 departments: Arafat, El Mina, Riad

Worked examples

Ouadane

The biggest of them

Ouadane is the largest answer on the map, the Adrar plateau east of Atar and the old caravan town the department is named for.

Arafat

The smallest of them

Arafat is about fifteen square kilometres on the south edge of Nouakchott. It is small enough to need a tap area on the map.

Zoueirat

A town inside a bigger department

Zoueirat is the iron mining town of Zouerate and the land around it, a small department that sits within F'Deirick, the largest in Tiris Zemmour.

Frequently asked questions

How many departments does Mauritania have?

63 on this map, including the nine in Nouakchott and the newer ones in the Adrar.

What is a moughataa?

The Arabic name for a department, the tier between a region and a commune.

Why is the spelling different from other maps?

Names are written in French transliteration, as in the source, with a few tidied: Lexeiba has lost a stray numeral and Magta Lahjar and Chinguetti are spelled the way their towns are.

The tier above this one is Mauritania Regions. For another country at this level, see Kenya Constituencies.