Kediet ej Jill

Where is Kediet ej Jill?

Kediet ej Jill is part of the Iron-ore massif near Zouérat.

You will find it in: Mauritania.

Summit: 22.651° N, 12.574° W

The story behind it

Seen from the desert, Kediet ej Jill looks almost black, because the mountain is made largely of iron ore and its surface glitters with metal instead of pale sand. The rock is so rich in magnetite that compass needles can behave strangely close to it, which has given the mountain a slightly mysterious reputation among travellers. Around it stretches stony desert where rain may stay away for years, days burn hot and nights turn surprisingly cold, and only a few hardy plants survive in dry riverbeds. People come here to work: nearby mines dig the same ore, and one of the longest trains in the world carries it hundreds of kilometres across the Sahara to the coast. In the local language the name is often understood as the mountain of spirits.

Find it on the globe

Kediet ej Jill is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.