Cap Blanc (Mauritania)
Cap Blanc ( French ), Portuguese Cabo Branco , Spanish Cabo Blanco , German "White Cape" , Arabic رأس نواذيبو, DMG Raʾs Nuwāḏībū ; is a cape on the west coast of Africa in today's Mauritania on the southern tip of the peninsula of the same name, see: Ras Nouadhibou . It was reached in 1441 by Portuguese navigators under the orders of Nuno Tristão and Antão Gonçalves while exploring the African coast on behalf of Henry the Navigator .
The cape is still an essential landmark for identifying the Arguin sandbank . As soon as this is located abeam, this sandbar is in the south. Ships then hold a west-south-west course to avoid running aground on the shallow sandbanks and reefs of the Arguin sandbank.
A misidentification of this cape in 1816 led to the French frigate Méduse running aground on the Arguin sandbank. As there were not enough lifeboats available, 157 of the 400 people on board had to entrust themselves to a makeshift raft. On the raft, which floated rudderlessly and without sufficient food and water across the Atlantic, there was cannibalism and brutal arguments about the remaining food. Only 15 people were saved. The shipwreck is one of the most famous of the 19th century, triggered a government scandal in France and was immortalized by the painter Géricault in the painting The Raft of Medusa .
In 1910 a lighthouse was built near the border with Western Sahara as a landing light for the port in Nouadhibou , formerly Port-Étienne.
Coordinates: 20 ° 46 '12.2 " N , 17 ° 2' 55.7" W.