Ras Nouadhibou

A monk seal colony on Ras Nouadhibou in 1945

1958 map, showing what was then called Cap Blanc, divided between Spain and France

Ras Nouadhibou (Arabic: رأس نواذيبو‎) is a 40-mile peninsula or headland in the African coast of the Atlantic Ocean by the Tropic of Cancer. It is internationally known as Cap Blanc in French or Cabo Blanco in Spanish (both meaning "White Cape").

History

Portuguese sailing explorers first reached Cap Blanc in 1441. The Spanish originally claimed the land from 20° 51' N (near Cap Blanc) to 26° 8' N (near Cape Bojador) in 1885. This would be a protectorate governed from the Canary Islands in 1887. France would later claim the Western Sahara. The boundary was settled in a joint French-Spanish convention in 1900 to divide the area between Spanish Sahara and French West Africa. However, the western side is currently occupied by Mauritania, as neither Morocco nor the Western Saharan Arab Republic is de-facto in possession.

A lighthouse was constructed on the cape in 1910.

Location

This thin stretch of land is now divided between Mauritania and the Western Sahara. On the western side, lies the Sahrawi town of Lagouira; on the eastern side, less than a mile from the border, lies Mauritania's Nouadhibou (formerly Port Etienne).