NIGER

	CLIMATE
	Niger has a hot, dry climate. In the south a short rainy season lasts from June to October. The northern desert region receives almost no rain.

Northern Nomads and Southern Farmers

Thousands of years ago, hunters and cattle herders lived among the trees and grasses of the Sahara. Then the climate changed, the Sahara region grew drier, and by around 3000 B.C.E. a vast area of desert separated present-day Niger (NIE-juhr) from the north.

From around 300 C.E. merchants from northern Africa began to make regular trading expeditions across the Sahara. Salt from Niger was a valuable commodity, traded for gold and slaves with peoples farther south.

By around 700, Berber states based in Morocco (see MOROCCO) ruled western Niger. Gradually the Berbers introduced their Muslim faith to most of Niger.

Around 1000 the rich Kanem-Bornu Empire, which ruled the eastern Sahel region (see CHAD and NIGERIA), took over eastern Niger. Hausa (HOW-sah) farmers from northern Nigeria also arrived to settle in southwestern Niger, attracted by fertile land beside the Niger River. From around 1500, southern Niger was divided among Hausa city-states, which grew rich through trade. The Hausa were followed, around 1600, by groups of Songhai (SAWNG-hae) and Djerma (JER-mah) people, who fled from Mali after the Songhai Empire (see MALI) collapsed. Between 1804 and 1810 Fulani (foo-LAH-nee) armies from Nigeria, led by a Muslim religious teacher, Usman dan Fodio, conquered Hausa lands in southern Niger (see NIGERIA).

To the north of the Hausa lived the Tuareg (TWAHR-ehg), desert people of Berber origin who controlled the trans-Saharan trade routes. They established their own state, the Sultanate of Aïr, around present-day Agadez in the 1400s. During the 1700s and 1800s, Aïr expanded and became an important state in the region.

In about 1854 France organized army expeditions to conquer Niger. During the 1890s the French signed treaties with the Hausa, Songhai, and Fulani leaders and built a fort at Niamey (NYAH-mae). The Tuareg people refused to accept French rule and fought the French fiercely for more than twenty years. Nonetheless, in 1922 Niger became a French colony.

Compared with France’s other African colonies farther to the west, Niger did not attract many European settlers. During the 1930s French colonists set up peanut farming projects with little success. French rulers did almost nothing to help the people of Niger; health care and education were minimal, and most families remained very poor. After the end of World War II (1939–1945), politicians in Niger began to demand independence.

In 1960 France allowed Niger to become independent, along with other French colonies in western Africa. In 1968 uranium was discovered in Niger, and the future looked bright. However, that same year, the first of many severe droughts hit the Sahel region on the Sahara’s fringes. Almost two-thirds of Niger’s cattle, sheep, and goats died, and many people faced starvation. International agencies provided food and shelter for refugees.

The drought ended in 1974. At the same time world prices for uranium rose fivefold, making the government very rich, but money from uranium did not help ordinary people. Many became worse off, as prices of food and fuel rose by 25 percent. The uranium boom was short-lived; prices collapsed in 1979, leaving the government almost bankrupt.

From 1983 to 1985 further terrible droughts plagued the land, and the Niger River stopped flowing. The government’s strict economic policies, aimed at reducing its debts, led to riots and violent protests. In 1990 the Tuareg demanded an independent homeland and rebelled.

In 1992 a democratic, multiparty constitution was introduced, but the economy was in a state of crisis, with massive government debts. Workers and students continued to protest, and the Tuareg rebels were still strong. Gangs of armed bandits attacked anyone venturing into the northern region. The Tuareg rebellion ended in 1995 when the Tuareg signed a peace accord with the government.

In 1996 there was a military coup. Alarmed by this political turmoil, overseas donors stopped sending aid. In April 1999 another coup occurred, and the president was assassinated. A new president, Mamadou Tandja, was elected in November 1999 and reelected in 2004.

In 2005, following poor rainfall the previous year and an attack by swarms of locusts, international food aid was necessary to avoid many thousands of people dying of starvation.