Nouakchott was a small colonial fort populated by a few hundred souls. From the Thirties with the construction of the Imperial which connected Casablanca to Dakar and the installation of the convoys by the Lacombes Company which made the Saint-Louis-Rosso-Atar trip, Nouakchott, began to develop, modestly, it is true. The place became a relay for the nomads in transhumance and a stop between Atar and Rosso.

In 1950, a flood inundated the village and the inhabitants settled in a new site, a little more in the west.

It is on July 24 1957 that the project to transfer the capital from Saint-Louis to Nouakchott became a fact.

March 5th, 1958, Mokhtar Ould Daddah, Vice-président of the Council and Gerard Jacquet, Ministre of France for Overseas, placed the first official stone of Nouakchott.

It is during the great drought of 1973-1976, which brought to Nouakchott a great mass of rural people. Between 1972 and 1975, the population passed from 40,000 to 145,000 and then to 450,000 ten years later.

In 2003, projections are of a population of 810,000 inhabitants.

From 1973 the Town of Nouakchott was divided into four districts, then with the massive developments, which followed, two other districts, the 5th, and the 6th were created. The city continued to grow and two more were added in 1979 and 1988, Toujounine and Arafat then two others in 1989, Dar Naim and Riad.

Today Nouakchott counts 9 Moughataa