UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Mauritania
By: Christian Jimenez/Arab America Contributing Writer
When people think of the Arab World they associate it with countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Iraq. However, the land that the Arabs call home is much larger, stretching from the borders of Iraq all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Yet there is one specific country not well known in the region, that country is called Mauritania. Mauritania is a beautiful nation and the way that I show this is by discussing two UNESCO World Heritage sites in the country, and explaining why they are important historically and ecologically.
Mauritania’s Ancient Town of Chinguetti
The first important site in the country of Mauritania is the site of Chinguetti. The town of Chinguetti was a bustling city in the 13th to the 17th centuries, when the population reached around 20,000 people according to smithsonianmag.com.
During this time, the town was an important pilgrimage site where many people of the Muslim faith stopped in order to continue their journey northeast towards Mecca for the Hajj. The reason why this site was so important is that it was an important oasis town in the expansive Sahara Desert, with its location lying on the edge of the Erg Warane sand dunes. In fact, without Chinguetti’s strategic role as an oasis town where travelers could stop and rest, the journey across the Sahara would’ve been much more difficult or even impossible.
In addition to Chinguetti being a place for Muslims on their pilgrimage, their location was also on the trans-Saharan trade routes. This strategic location allowed the city to become an important center for trade helping the town to become rich and prosperous.
The extreme amounts of wealth being brought in also allowed the town of Chinguetti to build magnificent architecture, more specifically its mosque, which is one of the most famous symbols of Mauritania. Along with the mosque, Chinguetti was also the site of many libraries, with five of them still standing today, containing 1,200 Quranic inscriptions. The importance of these Quranic texts has, in turn, led to the travel of Muslim scholars to Chinguetti in order to improve their studies of Islamic Law.
Despite it not being as important as it once was, the site of Chinguetti is still a beautiful sight to behold. This beauty and history led to Chinguetti being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. This designation has benefitted the tourism industry of the area. However, thanks to climate change and desertification, the Sahara desert is on a continual march south, which could make the days of Chinguetti a tourist site and a habitable place to live, numbered. The ancient Quranic texts are also in danger, which is why there has been talking of moving them to a safer location, however, the private owners of these texts refuse to relocate them according to atlasobscura.com.
Mauritania’s Banc d’Arguin National Park
Image by waddensea-worldheritage.org
The second UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mauritania is the Banc d’Arguin National Park. This National Park, which was awarded UNESCO status in the year 1989, is located off the Atlantic coast. The park contains many sand dunes along with shallow coastal waters. However, despite the land appearing lifeless, the same cannot be said for the park’s underwater life. These waters are home to one of the most important fish nurseries on the West African seaboard according to world heritage datasheets. In addition, the site is home to countless sea mammals, such as different species of cetaceans, the group that contains whales and dolphins.
However, the most famous animals in this reserve are the migratory seabirds. In fact, there are so many seabirds migrating here that the Banc d’Arguin National Park is home to the largest concentration of wading birds in the world – birds such as herons and storks that wade in the water in search of food. The reason for this high concentration of birds is that the park is the most important migratory area for seabirds on the Atlantic Ocean, as the birds migrate south toward warmer weather in the winter.
Also, there is so much diversity of life in the water and not on land because of a cold water current bringing in nutrients to this biological hotspot from the deeper water levels in a process known as upwelling. These nutrients in turn help the growth of plankton, fish, and other sea life according to earthobserrvatory.nasa.gov.
This site is also in danger, like Chinguetti, but not for the same reasons. The site of Banc d’Arguin National Park is threatened by overfishing, which is perpetuated by industrial-scale production and pirate fishermen off the coast. This overfishing could lead to the destruction of the fish nurseries, which would then cause the area to be devoid of food for the birds who rely on these fishing stocks in their winter migrations. Thus, the result of all of these detrimental effects is an ecological disaster.
Even though both of these areas are UNESCO World Heritage sites, both are in danger of being destroyed due to climate change, desertification, and overfishing. However, in order to prevent this fate, serious action must be taken with regards to the heating of our planet and the unsustainable habits practiced on the environment. Effective action on these fronts is necessary not only for protecting the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Mauritania but for UNESCO World Heritage Sites around the world. In the meantime, they are still exciting places to visit for anyone interested in visiting and admiring this obscure Arab nation.
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