Map of Mauritania

The country of Mauritania is on the Atlantic Ocean, in upper Africa. It faces many human rights problems such as female genital mutilation, other forms of mutilation, child labor, human trafficking, and an estimated 20% of the population being enslaved. As successive waves of nomadic tribes-turned-settlers came in, the region was eventually ruled entirely by the Ghana empires, followed by the Almoravid Moors in 1076, who left it under Berber control. The country was slowly absorbed by France as a colony until independence in 1960 . The official name is the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.