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Bilma
Bilma is an oasis town and commune in north east Niger with, as of the 2012 census, a total population of 4,016 people. It lies protected from the desert dunes under the Kaouar Cliffs and is the largest town along the Kaouar escarpment. It is known for its gardens, for salt and natron production through evaporation ponds, date cultivation, and as the destination of one of the last Saharan caravan routes (the Azalai, from Agadez). Population Its population is mostly Kanuri, with smaller Toubou, Tuareg, and Hausa populations, the last being a reminder of Bilma's role as a key stop in the Trans Saharan trade. Administration and economy Bilma is the administrative seat of the Bilma Department, covering some of north eastern Niger. While it continues to produce salt in large ''natron'' salt pans, and this salt is still sold for livestock use throughout west Africa, tourism (based out of Agadez and the Aïr Mountains some to the west) is of growing importance. Climate Bil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ténéré
The Ténéré (Tuareg: Tenere, literally: "desert") is a desert region in the south central Sahara. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over . The Ténéré's boundaries are said to be the Aïr Mountains in the west, the Hoggar Mountains in the north, the Djado Plateau in the northeast, the Tibesti Mountains in the east, and the basin of Lake Chad in the south. The central part of the desert, the Erg du Bilma, is centred at approximately . It is the locus of the Neolithic Tenerian culture. Name The name ''Ténéré'' comes from the Tuareg language, meaning "desert", in much the same way that the Arabic word for "desert", ''Sahara'', came to be applied to the region as a whole. Climate The Ténéré has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification ''BWh''), typical of the large Sahara Desert. The climate is hyper-arid, extremely hot, sunny and dry year-round and there is virtually no plant life. The av ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans-Saharan Trade
Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century. The Sahara once had a very different environment. In Libya and Algeria, from at least 7000 BC, there was pastoralism, the herding of sheep, goats, large settlements, and pottery. Cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara ( Ahaggar) from 4000 to 3500 BC. Remarkable rock paintings (dated 3500 to 2500 BC) in places that are currently very dry, portray flora and fauna that are not present in the modern desert environment. As a desert, Sahara is now a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean economy from the economy of the Niger basin. As Fernand Braudel points out, crossing such a zone, especially without mechanized transport, is worthwhile only when exceptional circumstances cause the expected gain to outweigh the cost and the danger. Trade was conducted by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans Saharan Trade
Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century. The Sahara once had a very different environment. In Libya and Algeria, from at least 7000 BC, there was pastoralism, the herding of sheep, goats, large settlements, and pottery. Cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara ( Ahaggar) from 4000 to 3500 BC. Remarkable rock paintings (dated 3500 to 2500 BC) in places that are currently very dry, portray flora and fauna that are not present in the modern desert environment. As a desert, Sahara is now a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean economy from the economy of the Niger basin. As Fernand Braudel points out, crossing such a zone, especially without mechanized transport, is worthwhile only when exceptional circumstances cause the expected gain to outweigh the cost and the danger. Trade was conducted by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azalai
The Azalai (Tamasheq, var. Azalay) is a semi-annual salt caravan route practiced by Tuareg traders in the Sahara desert between Timbuktu and the Taoudenni salt mine in Mali, or the act of traveling with a caravan along that route. The other major West African salt caravan route, heading from around Agadez to Fachi and Bilma in Niger, is called Taghlamt (in Tamasheq, or Taglem or Tagalem in Hausa language). The two are among the last caravan routes in the Sahara that are still in use. Both caravans have largely been replaced by unpaved truck routes. Timbuktu-Taoudenni At one time the caravan route from Timbuktu extended through Taoudenni to Taghaza, another salt-mining site, and on to the lands north of the Sahara on the Mediterranean Sea. Caravans with up to 10,000 camels carried gold and slaves north, returning with manufactured goods and salt from Taghaza and Taoudenni. Until the 1940s, the Taoudenni caravans were made up of thousands of camels, departing Timbuktu at the be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agadez Region
Agadez Region is one of the seven regions of Niger. At , it covers more than half of Niger's land area, and is the largest region in the country, as well as the largest African state subdivision. The capital of the department is Agadez. History The region is a centre for palaeontology, with numerous dinosaur skeletons being found here, including the ''Ouranosaurus nigeriensis''. Cave painting and the remains of ancient human settlements are also located here. Tuareg peoples began migrating to the region from the mid-8th century. From the mid-15th century to the early 20th, much of the region was under the control of the Sultanate of Agadez, except for a period when the area came under the rule of the Songhai Empire in the 1500s. The region suffered with the advent of French colonialism as power shifted away to the southwest; Tuareg disaffection with French rule resulted in the Kaocen revolt in 1916–17. This process continued following Niger's independence in 1960; local Tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bilma Department
Bilma is a department of the Agadez Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Bilma. As of 2012, the department had a total population of 17,935 people. Communes *Bilma *Dirkou *Djado *Fachi Fachi is an oasis surrounded by the Ténéré desert and the dunes of the Erg of Bilma in eastern Niger, placed on the western edge of the small Agram mountains, Agram mountain outcropping. It has an estimated population of 2,000 people. It is a ... References Departments of Niger Agadez Region {{Niger-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanuri People
The Kanuri people (Kanouri, Kanowri, also Yerwa, Baribari and several subgroup names) are an List of ethnic groups of Africa, African ethnic group living largely in the lands of the former Kanem Empire, Kanem and Bornu Empires in Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Libya and Cameroon. Those generally termed Kanuri include several subgroups and dialect groups, some of whom identify as distinct from the Kanuri. Most trace their origins to ruling lineages of the medieval Kanem-Bornu Empire, and its client states or provinces. In contrast to the neighboring Toubou people, Toubou or Zaghawa people, Zaghawa pastoralists, Kanuri groups have traditionally been sedentary, engaging in farming, fishing the Chad Basin, and engaged in trade and salt processing. Background Kanuri peoples include several subgroups, and identify by different names in some regions. The Kanuri language was the major language of the Bornu Empire and remains a major language in southeastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria and north ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaouar
The Kaouar (or Kawar) is a series of ten oases in the southern Sahara in northeast Niger, covering about from north to south, and east to west. They are on the eastern edge of the Ténéré desert, between the Tibesti Mountains in the east and the Aïr Mountains in the west and between the Fezzan in the north and Lake Chad in the south. They lie on the leeward side of a 100-meter-high north–south escarpment and easterly winds striking the escarpment provide easy access to groundwater for the oases. Running south to north, Bilma, Dirkou, Aney and Séguédine are the largest towns. The Kaouar oases are famous for salt and date production, and were along the route of the great Bornu to Fezzan caravan trail. This was the major point of contact between the African Sahel and the Mediterranean civilisations until the 19th century. Numerous archeological sites and rock paintings attest to human habitation here reaching back some 10,000 years to when the area was surrounded by l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuareg People
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria. The Tuareg speak languages of the same name (also known as ''Tamasheq''), which belong to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. The Tuaregs have been called the "blue people" for the indigo dye coloured clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin. They are a semi-nomadic people who practice Islam, and are descended from the indigenous Berber communities of Northern Africa, which have been described as a mosaic of local Northern African (Taforalt), Middle Eastern, European (Early European Farmers), and Sub-Saharan African-related ancestries, prior to the Arab expansion. Tuareg peopl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niger
) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesRépublique du Niger, "Loi n° 2001-037 du 31 décembre 2001 fixant les modalités de promotion et de développement des langues nationales." L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde (accessed 21 September 2016) , languages = , religion_ref = , religion_year = 2012 , religion = , demonym = Nigerien , capital = , coordinates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames and Kufra, situated in modern-day Libya, have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west Trans-Saharan trade, trade in the Sahara Desert. The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the Niger River to Tangier, Morocco. The Silk Road “traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as Turpan in China and Sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communes Of Niger
The Departments of Niger are subdivided into communes. As of 2005, in the seven Regions and one Capital Area, there were 36 ''départements'', divided into 265 ''communes'', 122 ''cantons'' and 81 ''groupements''. The latter two categories cover all areas not covered by ''Urban Communes'' (population over 10000) or ''Rural Communes'' (population under 10000), and are governed by the Department, whereas Communes have (since 1999) elected councils and mayors. Additional semi-autonomous sub-divisions include ''Sultanates'', ''Provinces'' and ''Tribes'' (''tribus''). The Nigerien government estimates there are an additional 17000 Villages administered by ''Rural Communes'', while there are over 100 ''Quartiers'' (boroughs or neighborhoods) administered by ''Urban Communes''. The territorial reorganisation of Niger's local administration, known informally as the ''Decentralisation process'', was carried out through a series of laws from 1998 - 2005. Most important are: * The Const ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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