Ras Nouadhibou

Ras Nouadhibou is a 40-mile peninsula or headland divided between Mauritania and Western Sahara on the African coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is internationally known as Cabo Blanco in Spanish or Cap Blanc in French .In the 14th and 15th centuries, fishing activities carried out from the nearby Canary Islands, by Spanish fishermen, inspired Spain to develop an interest in the desert coast of what is today called Western Sahara.Cabo Blanco, in the Atlantic Ocean, is the only place in the world where Mediterranean monk seals form a true colony. In 1997, two-thirds of the colony died off, but there has been gradual recovery since.GeographyThe headland forms the western limit of Dakhlet Nouadhibou Bay.This thin stretch of land is divided between Mauritania and Western Sahara. On the western side lies the ghost town of La Guera; on the eastern side, less than a mile from the border, lies Mauritania's Nouadhibou (formerly Port Etienne).