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How the crowd draws

280 drawings of its land border and 900 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 17 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Mauritania

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area1,039,000 km²401,000 sq mi1,012,000 km²391,000 sq mi2.6% smaller
Outline5,698 km3,541 mi5,319 km3,305 mi6.7% shorter
Centre10.36° W, 20.22° N10.4° W, 20.2° N10.55° W, 20.14° N10.5° W, 20.1° N21 km south-west13 mi south-west
Westernmost17.08° W, 20.88° N17.1° W, 20.9° N17.06° W, 20.81° N17.1° W, 20.8° N2 km short1 mi short
Easternmost4.82° W, 25.00° N4.8° W, 25.0° N4.69° W, 24.96° N4.7° W, 25.0° N14 km beyond8 mi beyond
Southernmost12.09° W, 14.75° N12.1° W, 14.7° N11.97° W, 14.96° N12.0° W, 15.0° N24 km short15 mi short
Northernmost8.65° W, 27.27° N8.6° W, 27.3° N8.68° W, 26.81° N8.7° W, 26.8° N51 km short31 mi short

Near the land border, 58% of the crowd’s lines run inside Mauritania. Near the coast, 10% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Mauritania and Mali: 2,111 km in the game, 2,236 km officially.

Mauritania’s coast: 878 km in the game, 754 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Mali2,111 km in the game2,236 km officially2,098 km the crowd’s0.6% shorter
W. Sahara1,534 km in the game1,359 km the crowd’s11.4% shorter
Senegal628 km in the game742 km officially611 km the crowd’s2.7% shorter
Algeria462 km in the game460 km officially468 km the crowd’s1.3% longer
The coast878 km in the game754 km officially685 km the crowd’s22.0% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Mauritania: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Mauritania or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 1,180 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,180.

4 small pieces of Mauritania, 219 km² in all, keep their real shape, shown flat: islands no round asks players to draw, or too small to measure. They count in no figure.

Draw Mauritania yourself and add your line to the next update.