The Bay of Arguin (french: Baie d'Arguin; pt, Baía de Arguim) is a bay on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

shore of

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

and the former mouth of the Tamanrasset River, now a Paleo-river.

Geography

It is located south of Cap Blanc, north of Cap Timiris. The bay contains three islands, including

Arguin Arguin ( ar, أرغين, pt, Arguim) is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park. H ...

and

Tidra Tidra ( ar, تيدرة) is an offshore island long and wide. It is the largest island off the shore of Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania (also being the largest in the nation) and is home to a community of Imraguen fishing tribe. The island is par ...

, as well as numerous sandbanks. It is also the site of the 12,000 km²

Banc d'Arguin National Park The Banc d'Arguin National Park ( ar, حوض أركين) of Bay of Arguin lies in Western Africa on the west coast of Mauritania between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou and is the former mouth of the Tamanrasset River. The World Heritage Site is a m ...

which includes most of the bay. The park's northern boundary is at Minou; it does not include the Dakhlet Nouadhibou, or the westernmost areas. Smaller bays within the Bay of Arguin include

Dakhlet Nouadhibou Dakhlet Nouadhibou is a bay on the Atlantic shore of Mauritania. The Dakhlet Nouadhibou Region, one of the primary administrative divisions of Mauritania, is named after it. Geography It is one of the largest natural ports on the Atlantic c ...

in the north and Baie de

Tanoudert Tanoudert is a coastal town in Mauritania. It is located in the Dakhlet Nouadhibou region and forms a part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park. It is situated to a homonymous bay lying to the west and further west is Cape Tagarit (Cap-Tagair). Ne ...

in the east. Other promontories include Minou, Cap Sainte-Anne, Argun, Alzaz, Tagarit and Tafarit. The Oued Chibka, a seasonal and occasional stream flowing only when the climate is partly wet, is in the north-central part. Inhabited places by the bay include

Nouadhibou Nouadhibou (; ar, نواذيبو, Nwādībū, Berber: Nwadibu, formerly in French: ) is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial centre. The city itself has about 118,000 inhabitants expanding to over 140,000 in the ...

in the north, Arkeiss and Tel-Alloul to the east and Teichott, R'Gueiba and Awguei to the south.

History

The bay is the possible location of Cerne, a Carthaginian outpost founded by

Hanno the Navigator Hanno the Navigator (sometimes "Hannon"; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤀 , ; ) was a Carthaginian explorer of the fifth century BC, best known for his naval exploration of the western coast of Africa. The only source of his voyage is a ''periplus'' transla ...

around 500 B.C. In 1035,

Abdallah ibn Yasin Abdallah ibn Yasin () (died 7 July 1059 C.E. in "Krifla" near Rommani, present-day Morocco) was a theologian and spiritual leader of the Almoravid movement. Early life, education and career Abdallah ibn Yasin was from the tribe of the Jazulah (' ...

founded a ribat (military refuge) on the island of

at the origins of the

Almoravid Dynasty The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...

. The first European to visit the bay was

Nuno Tristão Nuno Tristão was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea (legendarily, as far as Guinea-Bissau, but more recent historians believe ...

in 1443, after which the remainder of the bay was explored. The area is also known as the place where the French frigate ''Méduse'' was famously wrecked in 1816.

References

External links

Satellite photographs of the bay
by the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

Bays of Mauritania Dakhlet Nouadhibou Region {{Mauritania-geo-stub