Ras Nouadhibou

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(Redirected from Cape Blanc)

Ras Nouadhibou (Arabic: رأس نواذيبو‎) is a 40-mile peninsula or headland called also known as Cap Blanc (French), or Cabo Blanco (Spanish).

History

Image:Cap Blanc Mauritania Spanish Sahara 1958.JPG

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

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. ^[1]

Location

This thin stretch of land is divided between Mauritania and 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).