Achénouma, also spelled Achinouma, is an administrative village located in
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.
Histo ...
,
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages Achénouma is not one of Niger's 255
communes
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
, and is geographically located within the commune of
Dirkou
Dirkou is a town in the Bilma Department, Agadez Region of north-eastern Niger. It lies in the northern Kaouar escarpment, a north–south line of cliffs which form an isolated oasis in the Sahara desert. As of 2011, the commune had a total p ...
.
Geography
Achénouma is located along the
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 a ...
escarpment, which is the location of multiple oases leading to an "island of civilization" in the Sahara Desert. The town is located approximately 15 kilometres north of Dirkou, near the mountain Tima. The mountain has served as a fortified refuge, and has also been known as Ayyama. The village's saltworks, called Ayemma, can be found four kilometres from Tima. Salt and soda ash production are an important part of the local economy.
Inhabitants
Achénouma is largely inhabited by former slaves of the Teda ethnic group.
Climate
Achénouma has an arid climate, or ''BWh'' under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...