Mauritania is a mainly desert country spanning the Arab Maghreb of North Africa and the western sub-Saharan Africa.
The country has a population of 3.1 million, divided between the Arab-Berber population to the north and black Africans to the south.
In the Middle Ages, Mauritania was the cradle of the powerful Almoravid dynasty, which spread Islam across North Africa and later controlled Islamic Spain.
In 1904, France established Mauritania as a colonial territory.
Mauritania gained independence in 1960, with Nouakchott as its capital. Its first president, Moktar Ould Daddah, ushered in an era of authoritarian rule and was eventually deposed in a coup in 1978.
A series of military rulers followed until August 2005 when the Military Council for Justice and Democracy seized power and appointed a transitional government, promising to return the country to democracy by 2007.
Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was elected President of Mauritania in a run-off vote on 25 March 2007, in the first democratic presidential elections since independence.
The present putsch is Mauritania's 11th coup or attempted coup since independence.
Mauritania's claim to parts of the disputed territory of Western Sahara brought it into conflict with Polisario Front guerillas until a peace deal was struck in 1979.
With national income per capita averaging $560, Mauritania is one of the world's poorest countries. But the discovery and exploitation of oil and gas reserves on its Atlantic coast has raised hopes of future prosperity.
Slavery was banned in 1981, but the practice is still believed to be widespread.
Mauritania is one of three Arab states to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
The country has recently become the target of terrorist activities. In December 2007, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQM) claimed responsibility for the killing of four Mauritanian soldiers and a family of French tourists. In February 2008, AQM attacked the Israeli Embassy in Nouakchott.