Thanks for watching.... 1. Agadez 2. Arlit 3. Birni-N'Konni 4. Dogondoutchi 5. Dosso 6. Maradi 7. Niamey 8. Tahoua 9. Tessaoua 10. Zinder Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest nation in West Africa, with over 80 percent of its land area covered by the Sahara desert. The country's predominantly Islamic population of 17,138,707 is mostly clustered in the far south and west of the nation. The capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Niger is a developing country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI); it was ranked last at 187th for 2013. Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials, especially uranium ore. Niger faces serious challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, poor education and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor health care, and environmental degradation. Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its several ethnic groups and regions and their relatively short period living in a single state. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of several large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule. Following a military coup in 2010, Niger has become a democratic, multi-party state. A majority live in rural areas, and have little access to advanced education. Early human settlement in Niger is evidenced by numerous archaeological remains. In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara (Tenere desert in Niger) was wet and provided favorable conditions for agriculture and livestock herding in fertile grasslands environment five thousand years ago. In 2005–2006, a graveyard in the Tenere desert was discovered by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago. His team discovered 5,000 year old remains of a woman and two children in the Tenere Desert. The evidence along with remains of animals that do not typically live in desert are among the strongest evidence of the 'green' sahara in Niger. It is believed that progressive desertification around 5000 BCE pushed sedentary populations to the south and south-east (Lake Chad). By at least the 5th century BCE, Niger became an area of trans-Saharan trade, led by the Berber tribes from the north, using camels as an adapted mean of transportation through the desert. This trade has made Agadez, a pivotal place of the trans-Saharan trade. This mobility, which will continue in waves for a couple of centuries, is accompanied with further migration to the south and interbreeding between southern black and northern white populations. It also helps the introduction of islam to the region at the end of the seventh century. Several empires and kingdoms also flourished during this era up to the beginning of colonization in Africa. The Songhai Empire was an empire bearing the name of its main ethnic group, Songhai or Sonrai, and located in western Africa on the bend of the Niger River in present-day Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. In the 600s, Songhai tribes settled down north of modern day Niamey and founded the Songhai city-states of Koukia and Gao. By the 1000s, Gao became the capital of the Songhai Empire. From 1000 to 1325, The Songhai Empire prospered and managed to maintain peace with its neighboring empires including the Mali Empire. In 1325, the Songhai Empire was conquered by the Mali Empire, but was freed in 1335 by prince Ali Kolen and his brother, Songhai princes held captive by Moussa Kankan, the ruler of the Mali Empire. From the mid-15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. Between the Niger River and the Lake Chad lay a fertile area and Hausa kingdoms. These kingdoms flourished from the mid-14th century up until the early 19th century when they were conquered by Usman dan Fodio, founder of the Sokoto Empire. The Hausa kingdoms were not a compact entity but several federations of kingdoms more or less independent of each other. Their organization was somewhat democratic: the Hausa kings were elected by the notables of the country and could be removed by the latter. The Hausa Kingdoms began as seven states founded according to the Bayajidda legend by the six sons of Bawo. Bawo was the unique son of the hausa queen Daurama and Bayajidda or (Abu Yazid by certain Nigerien historians) who came from Baghdad. The seven original hausa states were: Daoura (state of queen Daurama), Kano, Rano, Zaria, Gobir, Katsena and Biram. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger

• published: 20 Feb 2015
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