Nouakchott, from a village to the Mauritanian capital

Sentinel-1 CSAR IW acquired on 22 November 2017 at 19:10:37 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 12 February 2020 at 11:33:11 UTC
Author(s): Sentinel Vision team, VisioTerra, France - svp@visioterra.fr
Keyword(s): Urban, planned city, capital, desertification, Mauritania
Fig. 1 - S2 (12.02.2020) - Nouakchott was built from a mid-size village in 1958 to become the capital of the nascent nation of Mauritania.
Fig. 2 - S1 (22.11.2017) - Nouakchott was designed by the French to accommodate 15 000 people by the time of the independence in 1960.
Fig. 3 - S2 - It is a city built around large avenues, soon supplemented by shanty towns formed by the people fleeing desertification.
Fig. 4 - S1 - Nouakchott population rose from 5800 inhabitants in 1961 to close to 1.2 million inhabitants today.