Ouallam is a town around 90 km north of

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital di ...

in southwestern

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesOuallam Department Ouallam is a department of the Tillabéri Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Oullam, which is designated an Urban Commune. The department also includes the Rural Communes of Simiri and Tondikiwindi, as well as the towns of Bani ...

, one of four departments in the

Tillabéri Region Tillabéri (var. ''Tillabéry'') is one of the eight Regions of Niger; the capital of the Region is Tillabéri. Tillabéri Region was created in 1992, when Niamey Region was split, with Niamey and its immediate hinterland becoming a new ''capital ...

Culture

Historically centered in the lands of the

Djerma people The Zarma people are an ethnic group predominantly found in westernmost Niger. They are also found in significant numbers in the adjacent areas of Nigeria and Benin, along with smaller numbers in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Suda ...

, Ouallam has important minorities of rural and urban

Tuareg 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 A ...

and

Fula people The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

s. It is the main town of the rocky

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

highlands called the Zarmaganda plateau, and is one of the traditional homes of the Djerma people and one of the places win which they coalesced as an ethnicity in the 15th and 16th centuries. The area had been along an important trade route to the

Aïr Mountains The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif ( tmh, Ayăr; Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion, they r ...

, used by the

Songhay Empire The Songhai Empire (also transliterated as Songhay) was a state that dominated the western Sahel/Sudan in the 15th and 16th century. At its peak, it was one of the largest states in African history. The state is known by its historiographical ...

, and was later controlled by a series of Tuareg confederations.

Agricultural center

Ouallam, on a main road to

, is situated in an agricultural region which, although drier than areas further south and west, is a center for livestock (cattle—both sedentary and semi-nomadic, goats), as well as grain agriculture (millet and sorghum). A market center, the town is also home to an agricultural research center of the INRAN (''Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques du Niger''—the National Institute of Agricultural Research, Niger.)

Intercommunal violence

In late 2008, the nearby village of Siwili was the scene of intercommunal violence, purportedly over accusations the theft of domesticated animals.12 killed in Niger clashes
News 24 (South Africa) 30 September 2008

References

Communes of Niger {{Niger-geo-stub