Niger

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Niger fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. Songhai Empire1500 to 1591

   Askia Muhammad of Songhai attacks the Tuareg sultanate of Agadez around 1500 and makes it pay tribute, drawing the Aïr and its caravan trade into the Songhai orbit for most of the sixteenth century.

2. Bornu Empire1564 to 1596

   Bornu, ruling from the Lake Chad region, fights the Tuareg and the Hausa states for control of the trans-Saharan routes. Under Idris Alooma, in the late sixteenth century, its armies, with musketeers trained by Ottoman Turks, campaign against both.

3. 🇳🇬 Sokoto Caliphate1804 to 1890

   Usman dan Fodio's jihad begins in Gobir in 1804 and destroys its capital, Alkalawa, in 1808. Exiled Hausa rulers from Gobir and Katsina rebuild at Tibiri and Maradi, in today's Niger, and raid the caliphate for most of the century.

4. 🇫🇷 French Third Republic1899 to 1917

   French columns conquer the region from 1899, starting with the brutal Voulet Chanoine mission. Zinder, capital of Damagaram, falls that year, and the Tuareg of the Aïr resist until Kaocen's revolt is crushed in 1917.

5. 🇧🇯 Dahomey, later Benin1963 to 2005

   Niger and Dahomey, later Benin, quarrel over Lété island in the Niger River, nearly coming to blows in 1963. The International Court of Justice gives Lété and most of the disputed islands to Niger in 2005.

6. Tuareg rebel movements1990 to 2009

   Tuareg and Toubou rebels in the north take up arms from 1990 to 1995, demanding autonomy and a share of uranium wealth. A second rebellion led by the MNJ, from 2007 to 2009, ends with peace deals mediated by Libya.

7. Jihadist groupsSince 2015Still open

   Boko Haram attacks the Diffa region near Lake Chad from 2015, while groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda strike in the west near the Mali and Burkina borders, as in the 2017 Tongo Tongo ambush. Attacks continue.

Today

Niger now

Nomadic peoples from the Saharan north and agriculturalists from the south settled present-day Niger. The Taureg kingdom of Takedda was one of the largest kingdoms in the north and played a prominent role in regional trade in the 14th century. In the south, the primary ethnic groups were the Songhai-Zarma in the west, the Hausa in the center, and the Kanuri in the east. When European colonizers arrived in the 19th century, the region was an assemblage of disparate local kingdoms.

Capital

Niamey

Government

formerly, semi-presidential republic

Head of government

Ali Lamine Zeine

Head of state

Abdourahamane Tiani

Languages

Hausa

Area

1,267,000 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population26.2 million2023 · 2.6 million in 1950
• Life expectancy61.2 years2023 · 35.9 years in 1950
• GDP per person$1,0072022 · $983 in 1950
• Living in cities18%2025 · 5% in 1950
• Literacy36%2022
• Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending2.1% of GDP2025
• War deaths4.0 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.