Niger

The Aïr mountains and the Ténéré hold some of the richest rock art in Africa, from a time when the Sahara was grassland: the life-size Dabous giraffes are about 7,000 years old. Later, the region lay between great powers — the Songhai empire in the west, the Kanem-Bornu empire around Lake Chad in the east, and the Hausa city-states of Katsina, Kano and Zinder's Damagaram sultanate in the south.

Agadez became a Tuareg sultanate in the 15th century and a hub of the salt and caravan trade; its mud-brick minaret, rebuilt in 1515, rises 27 metres. In the 19th century the Sokoto Caliphate's jihad reshaped Hausa country, and French columns fought their way across it from the 1890s; Tuareg revolts continued into the First World War.

Independent from 1960, Niger has had five successful coups. Uranium discovered at Arlit made it strategic to France. Tuareg rebellions in the 1990s and 2007–09 ended in deals. In 2021 Mohamed Bazoum became the first president to take over from an elected predecessor; in July 2023 his guard commander, Abdourahamane Tiani, overthrew him. French and US forces left, ties with Russia grew, and in January 2025 Niger left ECOWAS with Mali and Burkina Faso.

Hausa farmers and traders make up about half the population, concentrated around Maradi and Zinder; the Zarma and Songhai live along the Niger in the west; Tuareg, Toubou and Arab groups herd and trade in the north; Fula herders move across the Sahel; Kanuri live near Lake Chad.

Almost all Nigeriens are Muslim. The Wodaabe, a Fula sub-group, are known for the Gerewol, where young men dance in make-up and are judged by women; Tuareg men wear the indigo tagelmust veil, and Tuareg society gives women property and influence. Niger has one of the world's highest birth rates, and over half the population is under 15.

About 80% of Niger is desert: the Ténéré, a sand sea, and the Aïr massif, where wadis support gardens and acacias. The Niger river crosses only the far south-west for about 550 km. The W National Park, shared with Benin and Burkina Faso, protected savanna wildlife but is now affected by armed groups.

The single rainy season runs from June to September and varies wildly; droughts and locust plagues have caused famines. Temperatures pass 45 °C before the rains, while desert nights in winter can fall below freezing. Lake Chad, on the south-eastern edge, has shrunk dramatically since the 1960s.

Tuareg silversmiths make the Agadez cross and other regional crosses, now worn across the world; leatherwork and indigo cloth are other crafts. Desert blues bands like Bombino from Agadez carry Tuareg guitar music abroad. The Cure Salée, a gathering of herders around In-Gall in the rainy season, was the great annual festival before insecurity.

Food is millet and sorghum: boule (millet drink with milk), tuwo (stiff porridge) with okra or baobab-leaf sauce, grilled meat called kilishi (spiced dried beef), and rice with sauce in towns. Tea is brewed in three rounds, as elsewhere in the Sahel.