Niger

 

Niger or the Niger[13][14] (/niːˈʒɛər, ˈnaɪdʒər/ nee-ZHAIR, NY-jər,[15][16] French: [niʒɛʁ]),[a] officially the Republic of the Niger[13][14] (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 1,270,000 km2 (490,000 sq mi), 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 25 million[17][18] live mostly in clusters in the south and west of the country. The capital Niamey is located in Niger's southwest corner. 

According to Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) report of 2023, Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world.[19] Some non-desert portions of the country undergo 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.[20]

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 five constitutions and three 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. The origin of the river's name is uncertain. Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy wrote descriptions of the wadi Gir (in neighbouring modern Algeria) and the Ni-Gir ("Lower Gir") to the south, possibly referring to the Niger River.[21] The modern spelling Niger was first recorded by Berber scholar Leo Africanus in 1550,[22] possibly derived from the Tuareg phrase gher-n-gheren meaning "river of rivers".[23] There is broad consensus among linguists that it does not derive from the Latin niger ("black") as was first erroneously believed.[21] The standard pronunciation in English is /niːˈʒɛər/, while in some Anglophone media /ˈnaɪdʒər/ is also used.  

 
History 

Main article: History of Niger
Prehistory 

 

Rock engraving showing herds of giraffe, ibex, and other animals in the southern Sahara near Tiguidit, Niger

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.[24] 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.[25][24] It is thought that these humans lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.[24] In prehistoric times the climate of the Sahara was wetter and more fertile during the African humid period, a phenomenon archaeologists refer to as the "Green Sahara" ,which provided "favourable" conditions for hunting and later agriculture and livestock herding.[26][27]

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.[24] 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.[28] Agriculture spread, including the planting of millet and sorghum, and pottery production.[24] Iron and copper items appear in this era, with finds including those at Azawagh, Takedda, Marendet and the Termit Massif.[29][30][31] 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.[32][33][34][35][36]

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.[37] 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'.[38][39][40]

 
Empires and kingdoms in pre-colonial Niger

By at least the 5th century BC the territory of what is now 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.[41][42] 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.[43] It was aided by the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 7th century, the result of three Arab invasions, which resulted in population movements to the south.[28] Empires and kingdoms existed in the Sahel during this era. The following adopts a roughly chronological account of some empires.
Mali Empire (1200s–1400s) 

Main article: Mali Empire

The Mali Empire was a Mandinka empire founded by Sundiata Keita (r. 1230–1255) in c. 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.[44][45] 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).[citation needed] At this point parts of what are now Niger's Tillabéri Region fell under Malian rule.[44] 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".[44][46] 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.[46] A rump Mali kingdom continued to exist until the 1600s.[citation needed] 

Songhai Empire (1000s–1591) 

 Map of the Songhai Empire, overlaid over modern boundaries 

 

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;[citation needed] by the 11th century Gao (capital of the former Kingdom of Gao) had become the empire's capital.[47][48] 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.[citation needed] 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.[24][49][50] 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.[48]

Sultanate of Aïr (1400s–1906)

Main article: Sultanate of Aïr

  In c. 1449 in the north of what is now Niger, the Sultanate of Aïr was founded by Sultan Ilisawan, based in Agadez.[24] 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.[24][43] In the following centuries, it "seems that the sultanate entered a decline" marked by internecine wars and clan conflicts.[43] 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).[24][43]

 
Kanem–Bornu Empire (700s–1700s)
Main articles: Kanem–Bornu Empire and Sultanate of Damagaram

To the east, the Kanem–Bornu Empire dominated the region around Lake Chad for a period.[48] 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.[51][52] 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.[53] Islam had been introduced to the kingdom by Arab traders from the 11th century, gaining more converts over the following centuries.[51] 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.[54][51][55] 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.[48][51]

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.[43] 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.[24] The sultanate managed to resist the advance of the Sokoto Caliphate (see below), and was later captured by the French in 1899.[24]

 

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

Main articles: Hausa Kingdoms, Dosso Kingdom, and Dendi Kingdom

Between the Niger River and Lake Chad lay Hausa Kingdoms, encompassing the cultural-linguistic area known as Hausaland which straddles what later became the Niger-Nigeria border.[56] The Hausa are thought to be a mixture of autochthonous peoples and migrant peoples from the north and east, emerging as a distinct people sometime in the 900s–1400s when the kingdoms were founded.[56][24][57] They gradually adopted Islam from the 14th century, and sometimes this existed alongside other religions, developing into syncretic forms; some Hausa groups such as the Azna resisted Islam altogether (the area of Dogondoutchi remains an animist stronghold).[24][48] The Hausa kingdoms were not a compact entity but several federations of kingdoms more or less independent of one other. Their organisation was hierarchical and somewhat democratic: the Hausa kings were elected by the notables of the country and could be removed by them.[47] The Hausa Kingdoms began as seven states founded, according to the Bayajidda legend, by the six sons of Bawo.[56][48] Bawo was the only son of the Hausa queen Daurama and Bayajidda or (Abu Yazid according to certain historians) who came from Baghdad. The seven original Hausa states (also referred to as the 'Hausa bakwai') were: Daura (state of queen Daurama), Kano, Rano, Zaria, Gobir, Katsina and Biram.[47][24][57] An extension of the legend states that Bawo had a further seven sons with a concubine, who went on to found the so-called 'Banza (illegitimate) Bakwai': Zamfara, Kebbi, Nupe, Gwari, Yauri, Ilorin and Kwararafa.[57] A smaller state not fitting into this scheme was Konni, centred on Birni-N'Konni.[43]

The Fulani (also called Peul, Fulbe etc.), a pastoral people found throughout the Sahel, began migrating to Hausaland during the 1200s–1500s.[48][56] During the later 18th century some Fulani were unhappy with the syncretic form of Islam practised there; exploiting also the populace's disdain with corruption amongst the Hausa elite, the Fulani scholar Usman Dan Fodio (from Gobir) declared a jihad in 1804.[43][24][58] After conquering most of Hausaland (though not the Bornu Kingdom, which remained independent), he proclaimed the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809.[56] Some of the Hausa states survived by fleeing south, such as the Katsina who moved to Maradi in the south of what later became Niger.[48] Some of these surviving states harassed the Caliphate and a period of wars and skirmishes commenced, with some states (such as Katsina and Gobir) maintaining independence whereas elsewhere newer ones were formed (such as the Sultanate of Tessaoua). The Caliphate managed to survive until, "fatally weakened" by the invasions of Chad-based warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, it finally fell to the British in 1903, with its lands later being partitioned between Britain and France.[59]

Other smaller kingdoms of the period include the Dosso Kingdom, a Zarma polity founded in 1750, which resisted the rule of Hausa and Sokoto states.[43]

 
Colonial (1900–1958)
Main articles: Senegambia and Niger, Upper Senegal and Niger, French West Africa, and Colony of Niger

In the 19th century some European explorers travelled in the area that would become known as Niger, such as Mungo Park (in 1805–1806), the Oudney-Denham-Clapperton expedition (1822–25), Heinrich Barth (1850–55; with James Richardson and Adolf Overweg), Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs (1865–1867), Gustav Nachtigal (1869–1874) and Parfait-Louis Monteil (1890–1892).[24]

Some European countries already possessed coastal colonies in Africa, and in the latter half of the century they began to turn their eyes towards the interior of the continent. This process, known as the 'Scramble for Africa', culminated in the 1885 Berlin conference in which the colonial powers outlined the division of Africa into spheres of influence. As a result of this, France gained control of the upper valley of the Niger River (roughly equivalent to the present territory of Mali and Niger).[60] France then set about making a reality of their rule on the ground. In 1897 the French officer Marius Gabriel Cazemajou was sent to Niger; he reached the Sultanate of Damagaram in 1898 and stayed in Zinder at the court of Sultan Amadou Kouran Daga—he was later killed as Daga feared he would ally with the Chad-based warlord Rabih az-Zubayr.[43] In 1899–1900 France coordinated three expeditions—the Gentil Mission from French Congo, the Foureau-Lamy Mission from Algeria and the Voulet–Chanoine Mission from Timbuktu—with the aim of linking France's African possessions.[60] The three eventually met at Kousséri (in the far north of Cameroon) and defeated Rabih az-Zubayr's forces at the Battle of Kousséri. The Voulet-Chanoine Mission was "marred by atrocities", and "became notorious" for pillaging, looting, raping and killing local civilians on its passage throughout southern Niger.[43][24] On 8 May 1899, in retaliation for the resistance of queen Sarraounia, captain Voulet and his men murdered all the inhabitants of the village of Birni-N'Konni in what is regarded as "one of the worst massacres in French colonial history".[43] The "brutal" methods of Voulet and Chanoine caused a "scandal" and Paris was forced to intervene; when Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-François Klobb caught up with the mission near Tessaoua to relieve them of command he was killed. Lt. Paul Joalland, Klobb's former officer, and Lt. Octave Meynier eventually took over the mission following a mutiny in which Voulet and Chanoine were killed.[24]

The Military Territory of Niger was subsequently created within the Upper Senegal and Niger colony (later Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) in December 1904 with its capital at Niamey.[24] The border with Britain's colony of Nigeria to the south was finalised in 1910, a rough delimitation having already been agreed by the two powers via treaties during the period 1898–1906.[60] The capital of the territory was moved to Zinder in 1912 when the Niger Military Territory was split off from Upper Senegal and Niger, before being moved back to Niamey in 1922 when Niger became a fully fledged colony within French West Africa.[24][43] The borders of Niger were drawn up in stages and had been fixed at their later position by the 1930s. Territorial adjustments took place in this period: the areas west of the Niger river were attached to Niger in 1926–1927, and during the dissolution of Upper Volta (modern Burkina Faso) in 1932–1947 most of the east of that territory was added to Niger;[61][43] and in the east the Tibesti Mountains were transferred to Chad in 1931.[62]

The French generally adopted a form of indirect rule, allowing existing native structures to continue to exist within the colonial framework of governance providing that they acknowledged French supremacy.[24] The Zarma of the Dosso Kingdom in particular proved amenable to French rule, using them as allies against the encroachments of Hausa and other nearby states; over time the Zarma thus became one of the "more educated and westernised" groups in Niger.[43] Perceived threats to French rule, such as the Kobkitanda rebellion in Dosso Region (1905–1906), led by the blind cleric Alfa Saibou, and the Karma revolt in the Niger valley (December 1905–March 1906) led by Oumarou Karma were suppressed with force, as were the latter Hamallayya and Hauka religious movements.[24][43][63] While "largely successful" in subduing the "sedentary" populations of the south, the French faced "considerably more difficulty" with the Tuareg in the north (centered on the Sultanate of Aïr in Agadez), and France was unable to occupy Agadez until 1906.[24] Tuareg resistance continued, culminating in the Kaocen revolt of 1916–1917, led by Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen, with backing from the Senussi in Fezzan; the revolt was violently suppressed and Kaocen fled to Fezzan where he was later killed.[43] A puppet sultan was set up by the French and the "decline and marginalisation" of the north of the colony continued, exacerbated by a series of droughts.[43] While it remained "something of a backwater", some limited economic development took place in Niger during the colonial years, such as the introduction of groundnut cultivation.[24] Measures to improve food security following a series of devastating famines in 1913, 1920, and 1931 were introduced.[24][43]

During the Second World War, during which time mainland France was occupied by Nazi Germany, Charles de Gaulle issued the Brazzaville Declaration, declaring that the French colonial empire would be replaced post-war with a less centralised French Union.[64] The French Union, which lasted from 1946 to 1958, conferred a limited form of French citizenship on the inhabitants of the colonies, with some decentralisation of power and limited participation in political life for local advisory assemblies. It was during this period that the Nigerien Progressive Party (Parti Progressiste Nigérien, or PPN, originally a branch of the African Democratic Rally, or Rassemblement Démocratique Africain – RDA) was formed under the leadership of former teacher Hamani Diori, as was the left-wing Mouvement Socialiste Africain-Sawaba (MSA), led by Djibo Bakary. Following the Overseas Reform Act (Loi Cadre) of 23 July 1956 and the establishment of the Fifth French Republic on 4 December 1958, Niger became an autonomous state within the French Community. On 18 December 1958, an autonomous Republic of Niger was officially created under the leadership of Hamani Diori. MSA was banned in 1959 for its perceived excessive anti-French stance.[65] On 11 July 1960, Niger decided to leave the French Community and acquired full independence at midnight, local time, on 3 August 1960;[66] Diori thus became the first president of the country.
Post-colonial (1960–)
Diori years (1960–1974)

For its first 14 years as an independent state Niger was run by a single-party civilian regime under the presidency of Hamani Diori.[67] The 1960s saw an expansion of the education system and some limited economic development and industrialisation.[43] Links with France remained, with Diori allowing the development of French-led uranium mining in Arlit and supporting France in the Algerian War.[43] Relations with other African states were mostly "positive", with the exception of Dahomey (Benin), owing to a border dispute. Niger remained a one-party state throughout this period, with Diori surviving a planned coup in 1963 and an assassination attempt in 1965; most of this activity was masterminded by Djibo Bakary's MSA-Sawaba group which had launched an abortive rebellion in 1964.[43][68] In the 1970s, a combination of economic difficulties, droughts and accusations of rampant corruption and mismanagement of food supplies resulted in a coup d'état that overthrew the Diori regime.

First military regime (1974–1991)

The coup had been masterminded by Col. Seyni Kountché and a military group under the name of the Conseil Militaire Supreme, with Kountché going on to rule the country until his death in 1987.[43] The first action of the military government was to address the food crisis.[69] Whilst political prisoners of the Diori regime were released after the coup, political and individual freedoms "in general deteriorated" during this period. There were attempted coups (in 1975, 1976 and 1984) which were thwarted, their instigators being punished.[43]

Kountché sought to create a 'development society', funded mostly by the uranium mines in Agadez Region.[43] Parastatal companies were created, infrastructure (building and new roads, schools, health centres) constructed, and there was corruption in government agencies, which Kountché did not hesitate to punish.[70] In the 1980s Kountché began cautiously loosening the grip of the military, with some relaxation of state censorship and attempts made to 'civilianise' the regime.[43] The economic boom ended following the collapse in uranium prices, and IMF-led austerity and privatisation measures provoked opposition by some Nigeriens.[43] In 1985 a Tuareg revolt in Tchintabaraden was suppressed.[43] Kountché died in November 1987 from a brain tumour, and was succeeded by his chief of staff, Col. Ali Saibou who was confirmed as Chief of the Supreme Military Council four days later.^[43]

Saibou curtailed the most repressive aspects of the Kountché era (such as the secret police and media censorship), and set about introducing a process of political reform under the overall direction of a single party (the Mouvement National pour la Société du Développement, or MNSD).[43] A Second Republic was declared and a new constitution was drawn up, which was adopted following a referendum in 1989.[43] General Saibou became the first president of the Second Republic after winning the presidential election on 10 December 1989.[71]

President Saibou's efforts to control political reforms failed in the face of trade union and student demands to institute a multi-party democratic system. On 9 February 1990, a violently repressed student march in Niamey led to the death of three students, which led to increased national and international pressure for further democratic reform.[43] The Saibou regime acquiesced to these demands by the end of 1990.[43] Meanwhile, trouble re-emerged in Agadez Region when a group of armed Tuaregs attacked the town of Tchintabaraden (seen by some as the start of the first Tuareg Rebellion), prompting a military crackdown which led to deaths (the precise numbers are disputed, with estimates ranging from 70 to up to 1,000).[43]

National Conference and Third Republic (1991–1996)

Ali Saibou, President 1987–93, helped oversee the transition from military to civilian rule

 

The National Sovereign Conference of 1991 brought about multi-party democracy. From 29 July to 3 November, a national conference gathered together all elements of society to make recommendations for the future direction of the country. The conference was presided over by Prof. André Salifou and developed a plan for a transitional government; this was then installed in November 1991 to manage the affairs of state until the institutions of the Third Republic were put into place in April 1993. After the National Sovereign Conference, the transitional government drafted a constitution that eliminated the previous single-party system of the 1989 Constitution and guaranteed more freedoms. The new constitution was adopted by a referendum on 26 December 1992.[72] Following this, presidential elections were held and Mahamane Ousmane became the first president of the Third Republic on 27 March 1993.[43][71] Ousmane's presidency saw four government changes and legislative elections in 1995, and an economic slump.[43]

The violence in Agadez Region continued during this period, prompting the Nigerien government to sign a truce with Tuareg rebels in 1992 which was ineffective owing to internal dissension within the Tuareg ranks.[43] Another rebellion, led by dissatisfied Toubou peoples claiming that, like the Tuareg, the Nigerien government had neglected their region, broke out in the east of the country.[43] In April 1995 a peace deal with a Tuareg rebel group was signed, with the government agreeing to absorb some former rebels into the military and, with French assistance, help others return to a productive civilian life.[73]


TO BE CONTINUED SOON!!!