The city consists of four major areas: the city center, including the international
airport;
Numerowatt to the north;
Cansado, the main residential area, to the south; and a
dormitory town for the workers of the harbor facilities which are located a few kilometers south of the city, near the tip of the Ras Nouadhibou peninsula, at
Port Minéralier. Attractions in Nouadhibou include the
Table Remarquable, several markets, a
ships' graveyard and
Mediterranean monk seals. The port of Nouadhibou is the final resting place of over 300 scuttled ships, forming the world's largest ship graveyard. Unlike the mass arrival of ships at
Mallows Bay, here the number of craft has built up over time, as corrupt officials accepted bribes from boat owners to allow them to dump their vessels in the area. Nouadhibou has long been an important transit point for international transport. In the beginning of the 20th century, it was a stopover for the
Latécoère air-transport network for mail and passengers for western Africa and overseas colonies like
Martinique.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery spent much time there as a pilot and as writer. Near the harbor is the terminus of
Mauritania's only railway line, which mainly brings
iron ore from the mining areas near
Fdérik and
Zouérat, which are located up to inland. Processing
iron ore forms the largest industry in Nouadhibou, although the overall major economic activity is fishing. ==History==