Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, 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. Over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara.
Topography of Niger
Its predominantly Muslim population of about 25 million lives mostly in clusters in the south and west of the country. The name comes from the Niger River which flows through the west of the country. The origin of the river's name is uncertain.
Early History
By at least the 5th century BC the territory of what is now Niger had become an area of trans-Saharan trade. Following the spread of Islam to the region, Niger was on the fringes of some states, including the Kanem-Bornu Empire and the Mali Empire before more significant parts of its territory became included in states such as the Sultanate of Agadez and the Songhai Empire. Societies continued to grow with regional differentiation in agricultural and funerary practices.
The Mali Empire
The Mali Empire was a Mandinka empire founded by Sundiata Keita (r. 1230-1255) in c. 1230 and existed until the 1600s. 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.
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The Songhai Empire
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.
Map of Songhai Empire
Sultanate of Aïr and Kanem-Bornu Empire
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. 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.
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Hausa Kingdoms and the Fulani Jihad
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. 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. 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).
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. The Hausa Kingdoms began as seven states founded, according to the Bayajidda legend, by the six sons of Bawo. Bawo was the only son of the Hausa queen Daurama and Bayajidda or (Abu Yazid according to certain historians) who came from Baghdad.
The Fulani, a pastoral people found throughout the Sahel, began migrating to Hausaland during the 1200s-1500s. 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. After conquering most of Hausaland (though not the Bornu Kingdom, which remained independent), he proclaimed the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809. 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.
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).
A Brief History of The Scramble For Africa
Colonial Era
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).
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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. 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.
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. 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".
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.
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. 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. 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. The borders of Niger were drawn up in stages and had been fixed at their later position by the 1930s.
Towards Independence
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. 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.
Independence and Subsequent Events
For its first 14 years as an independent state, Niger was run by a single-party civilian regime under the presidency of Hamani Diori. The 1960s saw an expansion of the education system and some limited economic development and industrialisation. Links with France remained, with Diori allowing the development of French-led uranium mining in Arlit and supporting France in the Algerian War. Relations with other African states were mostly "positive", with the exception of Dahomey (Benin), owing to a border dispute.
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. The first action of the military government was to address the food crisis. Whilst political prisoners of the Diori regime were released after the coup, political and individual freedoms in general deteriorated during this period. Kountché sought to create a 'development society', funded mostly by the uranium mines in Agadez Region.
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. 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. The economic boom ended following the collapse in uranium prices, and IMF-led austerity and privatisation measures provoked opposition by some Nigeriens. In 1985, a Tuareg revolt in Tchintabaraden was suppressed.
Kountché died in November 1987 from a brain tumour, and was succeeded by his chief of staff, Col. 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. 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 governmental paralysis prompted the military to intervene; on 27 January 1996, Col.
Presidential campaigns were organised in the months that followed. Maj. Daouda Malam Wanké then took over, establishing a transitional National Reconciliation Council to oversee the drafting of a constitution with a French-style semi-presidential system. This was adopted on 9 August 1999 and was followed by presidential and legislative elections in October and November of the same year. The elections were generally found to be free and fair by international observers.
After winning the election in November 1999, President Tandja Mamadou was sworn into office on 22 December 1999 as the first president of the Fifth Republic. Mamadou brought about administrative and economic reforms that had been halted due to the military coups since the Third Republic, and helped peacefully resolve a decades-long boundary dispute with Benin. In August 2002, unrest within military camps occurred in Niamey, Diffa, and Nguigmi, and the government was able to restore order within days. On 24 July 2004, municipal elections were held to elect local representatives, previously appointed by the government. By 2007, the relationship between President Tandja Mamadou and his prime minister had "deteriorated", leading to the replacement of the latter in ...
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