Related Research Articles
Niger or the 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. It covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2 (490,000 sq mi), making it the second-largest landlocked country in West Africa, after Chad. Over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara. Its predominantly Muslim population of about 25 million live mostly in clusters in the further south and west of the country. The capital Niamey is located in Niger's southwest corner.
The culture of Niger is marked by variation, evidence of the cultural crossroads which French colonialism formed into a unified state from the beginning of the 20th century. What is now Niger was created from four distinct cultural areas in the pre-colonial era: the Djerma dominated Niger River valley in the southwest; the northern periphery of Hausaland, made mostly of those states which had resisted the Sokoto Caliphate, and ranged along the long southern border with Nigeria; the Lake Chad basin and Kaouar in the far east, populated by Kanuri farmers and Toubou pastoralists who had once been part of the Kanem-Bornu Empire; and the Tuareg nomads of the Aïr Mountains and Saharan desert in the vast north. Each of these communities, along with smaller ethnic groups like the pastoral Wodaabe Fula, brought their own cultural traditions to the new state of Niger.
The Songhai people are an ethnolinguistic group in West Africa who speak the various Songhai languages. Their history and lingua franca is linked to the Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century. Predominantly a Muslim community, the Songhai are found primarily throughout Niger and Mali in the Western sudanic region. The name Songhai was historically neither an ethnic nor linguistic designation, but a name for the ruling caste of the Songhay Empire which are the Songhai proper found predominantly in present-Niger. However, the correct term used to refer to this group of people collectively by the natives is "Ayneha". Although some Speakers in Mali have also adopted the name Songhay as an ethnic designation, other Songhay-speaking groups identify themselves by other ethnic terms such as Zarma or Isawaghen. The dialect of Koyraboro Senni spoken in Gao is unintelligible to speakers of the Zarma dialect of Niger, according to at least one report. The Songhay languages are commonly taken to be Nilo-Saharan but this classification remains controversial: Dimmendaal (2008) believes that for now it is best considered an independent language family.
The Sokoto Caliphate was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fulani War. The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. It was dissolved when the British and Germans conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established Northern Nigeria Protectorate and Kamerun respectively.
Birni-N'Konni is a town in the Tahoua Region of Niger, lying immediately north of the border of Nigeria and west of seasonal Maggia River. It is an important market town and transport hub and as of the 2012 census had a population of 63,169. The town is the historic centre of the small pre-colonial Hausa state of Konni. The name comes from the Hausa for "Walled Town of Konni", and many Hausa towns designate the old citadel neighbourhood the "Birni".
Dosso is one of the eight Regions of Niger. The region has an area of 31,002 square kilometres (11,970 sq mi), with a population of 2,078,339 as of 2011.
Islam in Niger accounts for the vast majority of the nation's religious adherents. The faith is practiced by more than 99.3% of the population, although this figure varies by source and percentage of the population who are classified as Animist. The vast majority of Muslims in Niger are Malikite Sunni with Salafi influences. Many of the communities who continue to practice elements of traditional religions do so within a framework of syncretic Islamic belief, making agreed statistics difficult. Islam in Niger, although dating back more than a millennium, gained dominance over traditional religions only in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and has been marked by influences from neighboring societies. Sufi brotherhoods have become the dominant Muslim organization, like much of West Africa. Despite this, a variety of interpretations of Islam coexist—largely in peace—with one another as well as with minorities of other faiths. The government of Niger is secular in law while recognising the importance of Islam to the vast majority of its citizens.
The Zarma people are an ethnic group predominantly found in westernmost Niger. They are also found in significant numbers in the adjacent areas of Nigeria and Benin, along with smaller numbers in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Sudan. In Niger, the Zarma are often considered by outsiders to be of the same ethnicity as the neighboring Songhai proper, although the two groups claim differences, having different histories and speaking different dialects. They are sometimes lumped together as the Zarma-Songhay or Songhay-Zarma
The Dendi was a former province of the Songhai Empire. Its centers today are the cities of Gaya in Niger, Kamba in Nigeria and Malanville in Benin
Sarraounia Mangou was a chief/priestess of the animist Azna subgroup of the Hausa, who fought French colonial troops of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission at the Battle of Lougou in 1899. She is the subject of the 1986 film Sarraounia based on the novel of the same name by Nigerien writer Abdoulaye Mamani.
The Hausa are the largest ethnic group in West and Central Africa, who speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Hausa are a diverse but culturally homogeneous people based primarily in the Sahelian and the sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria respectively, numbering around 54 million people with significant indigenized populations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Togo, Ghana, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Senegal and the Gambia.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Niger:
The Dosso Kingdom is a precolonial state in what is now southwest Niger which has survived in a ceremonial role to the modern day.
Niger–Nigeria relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Niger and Nigeria, two neighbouring countries in West Africa. Relations are based on a long shared border and common cultural and historical interactions.
Arewa or Arewaland is a Hausa word which means "The North". The term is used to refer to Northern Nigeria general. The terms Arewa and Arewacin Najeriya are used in Hausa to refer to the historic region geopolitically located north of the River Niger.
The continued use of the term, Arewa ... has conjured up an image among educated Northerners that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Sir Ahmadu Bello created: the successor to the Bornu and Sokoto Caliphate; the vision of God's Empire in the region; the universality of its claim to suzerainty; and in a more prosaic but no less powerful sense, the concept of a polity with an emphasis on unity and sense of shared purpose in northern West Africa beyond the popular slogan--'one North, one People'.
The Kurtey people are a small ethnic group found along the Niger River valley in parts of the West African nations of Niger, Benin, Mali, and Nigeria. They are also found in considerable numbers in Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso.
Sarraounia is a 1986 historical drama film written and directed by Med Hondo. It is based on a novel of the same name by Nigerien author Abdoulaye Mamani, who co-wrote the screenplay. The novel and film concern the real-life Battle of Lougou between Azna queen Sarraounia and the advancing French Colonial Forces of the Voulet-Chanoine Mission in 1899. Sarraounia was one of the few African tribal leaders that resisted the advances of French expansionists Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine. The film won the first prize at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) and was critically well received.
The boubou or grand boubou is a flowing wide-sleeved robe worn across West Africa, and to a lesser extent in North Africa, related to the dashiki suit.
The Songhai proper are an ethnic group in the northwestern corner of Niger's Tillaberi Region, an area historically known in the country as Songhai. They are a subgroup of the broader Songhai group. Even though the Songhays have so much in common with the Zarma people to the extent that some Songhais may refer to themselves and their dialect as "Zarma", both see themselves as two different people.
Nigerien nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Niger, as amended; the Nigerien Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Niger. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. Nigerien nationality is typically obtained under the jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Niger or abroad to parents with Nigerien nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.
References
- ↑ Société Belge d'Études Coloniales (September 1905). "Le Territoire français Niger-Tchad". Bulletin de la Société Belge d'Études Coloniales. 12: 449–523.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Idrissa, Abdourahmane and Samuel Decalo (2012). Historical Dictionary of Niger (4th ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 588. ISBN 978-0810870901.
- ↑ Trillo, Richard (2008). The Rough Guide to West Africa. Penguin. p. 1360. ISBN 978-1405380706.
- ↑ Thom, Derrick J. (1975). The Niger-Nigeria boundary, 1890-1906: a study of ethnic frontiers and a colonial boundary . Ohio University, Center for International Studies. pp. 42.
- ↑ Bloom, Peter J. (2008). French Colonial Documentary: Mythologies of Humanitarianism . University of Minnesota Press. pp. 265. ISBN 978-0816646289.
