Djado is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

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 ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesplateau with the same name. The settlement likely wasn't called Djado during its existence. The site is quite remote. No excavation has been done, so the real name of the settlement is unknown.

Geography

The former Djado is located in an oasis, in the northeastern part of

Ténéré desert 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 a ...

. Ténéré desert is considered part of the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. It is located on the southeastern end of the

Djado plateau The Djado Plateau lies in the Sahara, in northeastern Niger. It is known for its cave art (often of large mammals long since absent from the area), but is now largely uninhabited, with abandoned towns and forts still standing and visible. As of ...

. For the administration, there's also a modern-day commune called Djado. The modern-day commune also comprises the Menfueni plateau and the Thchigai plateau. Modern-day Djado is the northernmost and easternmost commune in Niger. To the north, it borders Algeria and Libya, to the east, it lies on the border to Tchad. Neighboing communes in Niger are

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 ...

to the south,

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 ...

to the southeast, and

Iférouane Iferouane (french: link=no, Iférouane), also spelled Iferouan, is an oasis town and commune in northern Niger, in Agadez Department. It is located northeast of Arlit in the northern Aïr, in the Ighazar valley near the Tamgak Range. Iferou ...

to the west. There are three villages in the commune: Chirfa, Séguédine and Yaba. In addition, there are the nomad camps of Djado and Tchounouk, as well as military camps. The main settlement is the village Chirfa. The ruins of Djado are on top of rocky cliffs. At the bottom of these cliffs are subterranean

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s, which also serve as an ideal breedng ground for mosquitoes. Dpeending on the season, some of these ponds almost dry up completely. From the cliffs, the Kaouar valley can be reached. There's a desert made of pebbles to the west, beyond lie the Aïr mountains.

History

According to the tradition of the local Kanuri , the

Sao SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

founded Djado. They also founded other places, such as Tedjerhe in southern

Fezzan Fezzan ( , ; ber, ⴼⵣⵣⴰⵏ, Fezzan; ar, فزان, Fizzān; la, Phazania) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ...

. Tedjerje is the oldest known settlement of the Kaouar. It was the most important city culture of the Kotoko south of Lake Tchad. The ruins look like those of a city. Their modern-day name links them to Djado in Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripolis. These two characteristics seem to point to a people that was

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, but the current population of the region is mostly

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

ic. The people who inhabited Djado had these points in common with

Berber people , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber flag, Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , p ...

. Djado was part of the kingdom of Sayfema of Kanem-Bornu at least since the reign of Dunama Dibalemi (1203–1243). Fr part of the time, they were independent, but they re-joined the empire of Idris Alauma (1564–1596). Idris Alauma moved through the desert, from

, south of Djado. As the power of the Bomu empire decreased, the people of the oasis were exposed to several raids of the

Touareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berbers, Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to sou ...

, in the 18th and 19th century. They started to leave the place, and settled in Kaouar. Another reason might be that cattle herding in the region also introduced mosquitoes that spread

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. In 1860, about 1000 Kanuri are said to have been left. In the middle of the 20th century, only a few Kanuri and

Toubou The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya and northeastern Niger. They live either as herders and nomads or as ...

were left. They mostly lived from growing

dates Date or dates may refer to: *Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner **Group dating * Play date, a ...

, and harvesting

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

The military outpost

Madama Madama is a border settlement on the northeast frontier of Niger. Little more than an army post, the settlement serves as a frontier station controlling travel between Niger and Libya. It is also the site of a former French colonial fort, buil ...

was created in 1930, when Niger was a French colony. In 1988. Rallye Sakar passed through Djado. In 2014, gold was discovered, which attracted up to 20.000 people from Niger, Chad,

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. Because there were many heavily-armed foreigners, and working conditions were very bad, Moussa Hassane Barazé, the responsible minister for mining operations, ordered the mines to be closed in 2017.

Population

In 2012, 876 people lived in the commune, in 168 households. In 2001, the count had been 936 people in 202 households. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:500 height:auto barincrement:42 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:20 top:5 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:16 shift:(-100,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:2001 from:0 till:936 text:936 Einwohner bar:2012 from:0 till:876 text:876 Einwohner In the main village, there were 2088 people in 63 households, at the 2012 count; In 2001, 208 people in 45 households, and in 1998, 260 people in 74 households. When it comes to harvesting, there are Tubu the area near the ghost town. In the eastern part of the commune, the language

Tedaga The Teda language, also known as Tedaga, is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Teda, a northern subgroup of the Toubou people that inhabits southern Libya, northern Chad and eastern Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type ...

, as well as Lybian Arabic are spoken. On the Algerian border, Tahaggart, a

Tuareg language The Tuareg () languages constitute a group of closely related Berber languages and dialects. They are spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso, with a few speakers, the ''Kinnin'', in Chad. Desc ...

, is common.

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{reflist Populated places in Africa Ghost towns in Africa Archaeological sites in Africa Archaeological sites in Niger Agadez Region