Karma is a town and a rural commune in southwestern

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

, near the city of

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

. The town had a population of 8,505 at the 2012 census, while the commune had a population of 88,244. Apart from Karma itself, the commune counts various other villages and

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

, such as

Boubon Boubon is a large village in southwestern Niger (West Africa), 27.8 km to the northwest of the centre of the capital Niamey. It lies on the left bank of the Niger River in the Karma, Niger, Commune of Karma, Kollo Department, Department of Kollo ...

, a village known for its lively weekly market on Wednesdays and the colorful pottery produced there.

Geography

Karma lies on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

with wide valleys on the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...

. The commune borders the municipalities of

Kourteye Kourteye is a village and rural commune in Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border ...

in the northwest, Simiri in the north, Hamdallaye in the east, Bitinkodji in the south, and Namaro in the southwest. The commune includes 70 villages, 56 hamlets, and 10 camps. The table below ranks the villages in the commune by population:

History

The village of Boubon in the commune was founded in around 1340, by a Songhai group. After the fall of the

Songhai Empire The Songhai Empire was a state located in the western part of the Sahel during the 15th and 16th centuries. At its peak, it was one of the largest African empires in history. The state is known by its historiographical name, derived from its lar ...

in 1591, Songhai refugees settled in Karma, under a descendent of the former ruling

Askiya dynasty The Askiya dynasty, also known as the Askia dynasty, ruled the Songhai Empire at the height of that state's power. It was founded in 1493 by Askia Mohammad I, a general of the Songhai Empire who usurped the Sonni dynasty. The Askiya ruled from Gao o ...

. In the 17th century, Zarma settled around the town and in the 19th century, the town was raided by enemy Zarma from N'Dounga.

Modern

In 1906, the French colonial administration established a

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

in Karma. The rural commune was formed in 2002, during a nationwide administrative reform. The commune of Karma was seriously affected by the 2010 West African floods, with over 15,000 residents of the commune classified as disaster victims. Karma was the second hardest hit commune in Niger after Namaro in the southwest.

Politics

The municipal council (''conseil municipal'') has 22 elected members. A traditional chief heads 65 villages in the commune, including the main town. Karma also hosts the Koutoukalé maximum security prison, which is the only high security prison in Niger and can accommodate 250 inmates.

Economy and infrastructure

The main source of income in the commune is agriculture in the bush and

rice cultivation The history of rice cultivation is an interdisciplinary subject that studies archaeological and documentary evidence to explain how rice was first domesticated and cultivated by humans, the spread of cultivation to different regions of the planet ...

on the banks of the Niger. In Karma there is a daily market with around twenty shops and restaurants as well as a weekly market with over 400 exhibitors. In the main town of Karma, there is a ''Center de Santé Intégré'' (CSI) health center which has its own laboratory and maternity ward, and was responsible for caring for over 36,000 people in 2016. There is also another CSI health center in Koutoukalé, which cared from over 12,000 people in 2016. The main road in the commune is National Road 1, the main road in the country.

References

Communes of Tillabéri Region {{Niger-geo-stub