NigerNiger

20100411 ASV Niamey Tournoi des grandes Ecoles du Niger, Niamey Nabara ASV gagne 1500m pour l'universite 03

20100411 ASV Niamey Tournoi des grandes Ecoles du Niger, Niamey Nabara ASV gagne 1500m pour l'universite 03

Niger or the Niger (English: /nˈʒˈn/ , French: [niʒɛʁ]), officially the Republic of the Niger (French: République du Niger, Hausa: Jamhuriyar Nijar), is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. It covers a land area of almost , making it the largest landlocked country in West Africa. Over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara. Its predominantly Muslim population of about million live mostly in clusters in the further south and west of the country. The capital Niamey is located in Niger's southwest corner.

It is one of the least developed countries and is also one of the poorest countries in the world by GDP per capita. Some non-desert portions of the country underwent periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence agriculture, with some export agriculture in the less arid south, and export of raw materials, including uranium ore. It faces challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, low literacy rate, jihadist insurgencies and the world's highest fertility rates due to birth control not being used and the resulting rapid population growth.

Its society reflects a diversity drawn from the independent histories of some ethnic groups and regions and their period living in a single state. Historically, Niger has been on the fringes of some states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under 5 constitutions and 3 periods of military rule. After the military coup in 2010, Niger became a multi-party state. A majority of the population lives in rural areas.

Etymology

The name comes from the Niger River which flows through the west of the country; a theory about the origin of the river's name is that it comes from the Tuareg n'eghirren meaning 'flowing water'. The pronunciation is the French one of English: /nˈʒ/, while in Anglophone media English: /ˈn/ is also used.

History

Prehistory

Stone tools, some dating as far back as 280,000 BC, have been found in Adrar Bous, Bilma and Djado in the northern Agadez Region. Some of these finds have been linked with the Aterian and Mousterian tool cultures of the Middle Paleolithic period, which flourished in northern Africa circa 90,000 BC–20,000 BC. It is thought that these humans lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. In prehistoric times the climate of the Sahara was wetter and more fertile, a phenomenon archaeologists refer to as the 'Green Sahara' which provided "favourable" conditions for hunting and later agriculture and livestock herding.

The Neolithic era began circa 10,000 BC; this period saw a number of changes, such as the introduction of pottery (as evidenced at Tagalagal, Temet and Tin Ouffadene), the spread of cattle husbandry, and the burying of the dead in stone tumuli. As the climate changed in the period 4000–2800 BC the Sahara gradually began drying out, forcing a change in settlement patterns to the south and east. Agriculture spread, including the planting of millet and sorghum, and pottery production. Iron and copper items appear in this era, with finds including those at Azawagh, Takedda, Marendet and the Termit Massif.Iron in Africa: Revisiting the History – Unesco (2002) The Kiffian (circa 8000–6000 BC) and later Tenerian (circa 5000–2500 BC) cultures, centred on Adrar Bous and Gobero where skeletons have been uncovered, flourished during this period.

Societies continued to grow with regional differentiation in agricultural and funerary practices. A culture of this period is the Bura culture (circa 200–1300 AD) named for the Bura archaeological site. where a burial replete with iron and ceramic statuettes were discovered. The Neolithic era saw the flourishing of Saharan rock art, including in the Aïr Mountains, Termit Massif, Djado Plateau, Iwelene, Arakao, Tamakon, Tzerzait, Iferouane, Mammanet and Dabous; the art spans the period from 10,000BC to 100AD and depicts a range of subjects, from the varied fauna of the landscape to depictions of spear-carrying figures dubbed 'Libyan warriors'.

Empires and kingdoms in pre-colonial Niger

By at least the 5th century BC the territory of what later is Niger had become an area of trans-Saharan trade. Led by Tuareg tribes from the north, camels were used as a means of transportation through what is later a desert.Masonen, P: "Trans-Saharan Trade and the West African Discovery of the Mediterranean World. " This mobility which would continue in waves for centuries was accompanied with further migration to the south and intermixing between sub-Saharan African and North African populations, and the spread of Islam. It was aided by the Arab invasion of North Africa in the 7th century, which resulted in population movements to the south. Empires and kingdoms existed in the Sahel during this era. The following adopts a roughly chronological account of some empires.

Mali Empire (1200s–1400s)

The Mali Empire was a Mandinka empire founded by Sundiata Keita (r. 1230–1255) in circa 1230 and existed up to 1600. As detailed in the Epic of Sundiata, Mali emerged as a breakaway region of the Sosso Empire which itself had split from the earlier Ghana Empire. Thereafter Mali defeated the Sosso at the Battle of Kirina in 1235 and then Ghana in 1240. From its heartland around the later Guinea-Mali border region, the empire expanded under successive kings and came to dominate the Trans-Saharan trade routes, reaching its greatest extent during the rule of Mansa Musa (r. 1312–1337). At this point parts of what are now Niger's Tillabéri Region fell under Malian rule. A Muslim, Mansa Musa performed the hajj in 1324–25 and encouraged the spread of Islam in the empire, and it "appears that most ordinary citizens continued to maintain their traditional animist beliefs instead of or alongside the new religion". The empire began "declining" in the 15th century due to a combination of internecine strife over the royal succession, weak kings, the shift of European trade routes to the coast, and rebellions in the empire's periphery by Mossi, Wolof, Tuareg and Songhai peoples. A rump Mali kingdom continued to exist until 1600s.

Songhai Empire (1000s–1591)

The Songhai Empire was named for its main ethnic group, the Songhai or Sonrai, and was centred on the bend of the Niger River in Mali. Songhai began settling this region from the 7th to 9th centuries; by the 11th century Gao (capital of the former Kingdom of Gao) had become the empire's capital. From 1000 to 1325, the Songhai Empire managed to maintain peace with the Mali Empire, its neighbour to the west. In 1325 Songhai was conquered by Mali until regaining its independence in 1375. Under king Sonni Ali (r. 1464–1492) Songhai adopted an expansionist policy which reached its apogee during the reign of Askia Mohammad I (r. 1493–1528); at this point the empire had expanded from its Niger-bend heartland, including to the east where most of later western Niger fell under its rule, including Agadez which was conquered in 1496. The empire was unable to withstand repeated attacks from the Saadi dynasty of Morocco and was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591; it then collapsed into a number of smaller kingdoms.

Sultanate of Aïr (1400s–1906)

In c. 1449 in the north of what is now Niger, the Sultanate of Aïr was founded by Sultan Ilisawan, based in Agadez. Formerly a trading post inhabited by a mixture of Hausa and Tuaregs, it grew as a strategic position on the Trans-Saharan trade routes. In 1515 Aïr was conquered by Songhai, remaining a part of that empire until its collapse in 1591. The following centuries, it "seems that the sultanate entered a decline" marked by internecine wars and clan conflicts. When Europeans began exploring the region in the 19th century most of Agadez lay in ruins and was taken over by the French (see below).

Kanem–Bornu Empire (700s–1700s)

To the east, the Kanem–Bornu Empire dominated the region around Lake Chad for a period. It was founded by the Zaghawa around the 8th century and based in Njimi, north-east of the lake. The kingdom gradually expanded, including during the rule of the Sayfawa dynasty which began in c. 1075 under Mai (king) Hummay. The kingdom reached its greatest extent in the 1200s, partly due to the effort of Mai Dunama Dibbalemi (r. 1210–1259), and grew "richer" from its control of some Trans-Saharan trade routes; most of eastern and south-eastern Niger, including Bilma and Kaouar, was under Kanem's control in this period. Islam had been introduced to the kingdom by Arab traders from the 11th century, gaining more converts over the following centuries. Attacks by the Bulala people in the 14th century forced Kanem to shift westwards of Lake Chad where it became known as the Bornu Empire ruled from its capital Ngazargamu on what is later the Niger-Nigeria border. Bornu "prospered" during the rule of Mai Idris Alooma (r. circa 1575–1610) and re-conquered most of the "traditional lands" of Kanem, hence the designation 'Kanem–Bornu' for the empire. By the 17th century and into the 18th the Bornu kingdom had entered a "period of decline", shrinking back to its Lake Chad heartland.

Circa 1730–40 a group of Kanuri settlers led by Mallam Yunus left Kanem and founded the Sultanate of Damagaram, centred on the town of Zinder. The sultanate remained nominally subject to the Borno Empire until the reign of Sultan Tanimoune Dan Souleymane in the 19th century, who declared independence and initiated a phase of expansion. The sultanate managed to resist the advance of the Sokoto Caliphate (see below), and was later captured by the French in 1899.

The Hausa states and other smaller kingdoms (1400s–1800s)

Between the Niger River and Lake Chad lay Hausa Kingdoms, encompassing the cultural-linguistic area known as Hausaland which straddles what later is the Niger-Nigeria border. The Hausa are thought to be a mixture of autochthonous p…

Text taken from Wikipedia - Niger under the CC-BY-SA-3.0 on April 14, 2023

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