Astronaut Oleg Novitskiy captured from ISS Mauritania.
Mauritania’s name derives from the name of the ancient Berber kingdom of Mauretania, located in present-day Morocco and Algeria. In the late 19th century, during European Scramble for Africa, Mauritania became a French colony. Mauritania became independent from French West Africa in 1960. Since then, it has experienced recurrent coups and periods of authoritarian military rule. Approximately 90% of Mauritania’s land is in the Sahara. As a result, most of its inhabitants live in the south of the country, where precipitation is slightly higher. Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for almost 50% of total exports. Gold and copper mining companies are opening mines in the interior. (Credit: Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos)
The local scenery on the ground is as follows.
Reference: Oleg Novitskiy’s Tweet
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