Ras Nouadhibou

The headland forms the western limit of Dakhlet Nouadhibou Bay. It is divided between Mauritania and Western Sahara. On the western side lies the ghost town of La Güera; on the eastern side, less than from the border, lies Mauritania's second-largest city Nouadhibou (formerly Port Etienne). Although it is not the westernmost point of Africa, due to the Earth's tilt it is at least twice a year the last place in Africa where the sun sets. Environment Birds The headland has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of wintering water birds, including ruddy turnstones, slender-billed and lesser black-backed gulls, and Caspian and Sandwich terns. Monk seals Cabo Blanco in the Atlantic Ocean along with the island of Gyaros in the eastern Mediterranean are the only places in the world where Mediterranean monk seals preserve the structure of a colony. In 1997, two-thirds of the colony died off, but there has been gradual recovery since. colony on Ras Nouadhibou in 1945 The Mediterranean monk seal's (Monachus monachus) former range extended throughout the Northwest Atlantic Africa, Mediterranean and Black Sea, coastlines, including all offshore islands of the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic and its islands: Canary, Madeira, Ilhas Desertas, Porto Santo, as far west as the Azores. Vagrants could be found as far south as Gambia and the Cape Verde islands, and as far north as continental Portugal and Atlantic France. down from some 310 in 1997, but still the largest single colony by far. The threat of a similar incident that could wipe out the entire population remains. == History ==

Portuguese sailing explorers first reached the location they called Cabo Branco in 1441. The Spanish interest in Western Africa, in the desert coast of the Sahara, resulted from fishing activities carried out from the Canary Islands by Spanish fishermen, who also hunted and traded seal. The Spanish fished and whaled off the Sahara coast from Dakhla to Ras Nouadhibou from 1500 to the present, ranging from whaling humpback whales and likely North Atlantic right whales and whale calves, mostly in Cape Verde, the Guinea gulf in Annobón, and the São Tomé and Príncipe islands. These fishing activities have had a negative impact on wildlife and caused the disappearance or endangerment of many species of marine mammals and birds. The Spanish originally claimed the land from 20° 51' N (near Cap Blanc) to 26° 8' N (near Cape Bojador) in 1885. This protectorate was governed from the Canary Islands in 1887. France would later claim the Western Sahara. At a joint convention held in 1900, the French and Spanish settled the boundary, dividing the area between Spanish Sahara and French West Africa. Today, the same border separates Western Sahara from Mauritania. However, the western side is currently policed by Mauritania, as neither Morocco nor the Polisario Front occupies the area. A lighthouse was constructed on the cape in 1910. ==In literature==

• Captain James Riley's captivity memoir, Sufferings in Africa (1815), recounts his and his men's experiences after beaching their ship at what is thought to be Cabo Blanco. • Robert Adams's Narrative recounts a similar experience. • The Pharaon from The Count of Monte Cristo sinks between here and Cape Bojador. • Cape Blanco is mentioned briefly in the novel Moby Dick. • Also referenced in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, ''J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement''. ==References==