Word: nouakchott
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Dates: during 1960-1960
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...Daddah took over, Mauritania had not even a capital; as part of the old French West Africa, it had been administered from St.-Louis, across the frontier in Senegal. "A country without a capital is like a body without a head," said Daddah, choosing the little oasis settlement of Nouakchott (pop. 600) as a convenient central seat of government. Today, with the help of French grants and loans, Daddah is slowly building a town; using seashells from the coast as a cheaper substitute for the gravel needed to make concrete. He lives in a prefabricated house just like most...