Mauritania

Road from Nouakchott to the Mauritanian–Senegalese border. *Photo from Wikipedia November 28 is Independence Day, which celebrates the independence of Mauritania from France in 1960. Berber immigration took place from about the 3rd century. Mauritania takes its name from the ancient Berber kingdom and later Roman province of Mauretania, and thus ultimately from the Mauri people, even though the respective territories do not overlap, historical Mauritania being considerably further north than modern Mauritania. The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 7th and 8th centuries did not reach as far south, and Islam came to Mauritania only gradually, from about