Niger

Where the name comes from

Niger is named after the Niger River; a suggested Tuareg origin meaning “flowing water” is uncertain.

First people

Herders lived in a greener Sahara thousands of years ago, and Hausa, Songhai-Zarma, Tuareg and other societies later linked Saharan and Sahel trade.¹

Known for

Niger is known for Agadez, whose mudbrick mosque minaret and living Sultanate of Aïr grew at a caravan crossroads in the 1400s and 1500s.²

Outside contact

France created a military territory in 1900 and a separate colony in 1922.¹

The modern country

Independence came in 1960.¹