Chinguetti,
town, central Mauritania, on the Adrar Plateau east of Atar. Founded in the
8th cent., it was a center on several trans-Saharan trade routes by the 13th
cent. and also attracted Sunni pilgrims traveling to Mecca. A center as well
for Islamic learning in science, religion, mathematics, and law, Chinguetti
had some 30 libraries of ancient learning and Quranic texts and some 20,000
inhabitants at its height. Now threatened by increasing desertification, the
town still has five libraries, with some 1,300 medieval manuscripts, as well
as the Chinguetti Mosque, with its massive square minaret.
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