Niger

Niger is a landlocked West African country, with an area of 1,267,000 square kilometers and a population of 22 million. Both geographically and culturally, Niger can be considered as being at the junction of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The ethnic diversity of the country and the modes of subsistence of its peoples also reflect this situation: On the one hand, Tubu, Arab, Fulani, and Tuareg ethnic groups are traditionally nomads, and on the other hand, Hausa, Songhai-Zarma, Kanuri, and Gurmance peoples are sedentary agriculturalists.

[Page 1256]Historically, the peoples of Niger are among the founders of some of the greatest empires of medieval West Africa, such as Kanem-Bornu, Songhai, and the Fulani empire of Usman Dan Fodio. Economically, Niger is regularly ranked as the least developed ...