Niger (1960- ) is a West African country at the edge of the Sahara, just north of Nigeria and just south of Algeria and Libya. It has been bedevilled by drought, disease, military rule, Tuareg uprisings and is sometimes the scene of famine, even locusts.
The northern two-thirds are desert. Most people are farmers and herders who live in the southern third of the country – represented on the flag by the green stripe at the bottom.
Main ethnic groups:
53% Hausa: live in the south near the Nigerian border, speaking Hausa. They came from the east some 5,000 years ago, from in or near Ethiopia, following the grasslands along the southern edge of the Sahara.
21% Zarma (or Djerma): live along the Niger River in the south-west, speaking Zarma, a Songhai language. Came to the region from the east some 5,000 years ago from Nubia, the country that was just south of Ancient Egypt. They are Nilo-Saharans.
10% Tuareg: live in the desert north and speak Tamasheq, a Berber language. Arrived from the north some 1,000 years ago, following the caravans across the Sahara.
10% Fulani: live in the south, speak Fulfulde. Arrived in numbers from the west in the 1500s, mainly as herders.
4% Kanuri: live in the south-east near Lake Chad and speak Kanuri. Nilo-Saharan.
French is spoken by about 20% – pretty much anyone who can read and write.
Timeline:
- 900s Tuaregs, trans-Saharan trade.
- 1000s
- 1100s Islam arrives.
- 1200s
- 1300s Mali Empire along the Niger River.
- 1400s rise of Hausaland and Bornu (Kanuri).
- 1500s Songhai Empire in the west; Fulanis arrive.
- 1600s
- 1700s Fulani jihads (till the early 1800s), bringing Islam to the masses.
- 1800s Sokoto (Fulani) rule in the south; Heinrich Barth, the first Westerner, arrives (1850).
- 1900s Scramble for Africa: French Empire; formal independence in 1960.
- 2000s US War on Terror.
Niger grows sorghum, millet, rice, cotton, peanuts and cowpeas. It raises cows, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys and horses. Notice no pigs: Niger is at least 80% Muslim.
Uranium: Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world – and yet produces about 23% of France’s electricity by way of its uranium mines in the north near Arlit. The mines are run by Areva, a French company. China is trying to get a piece of the action.
Slavery: outlawed in 2003, but some 40,000 are still slaves – “fifth wives” and such.
Smuggling: Many of the refugees who cross the Mediterranean came by way of Niger, travelling along the old caravan routes in pickup trucks.
Refugees: In 2017, Niger had 106,146 refugees from Nigeria and 57,286 from Mali, fleeing jihad in those countries.
War on Terror: Most governments in the region fight with France and the US against jihadists like Boko Haram, Ansar Dine, al-Qaeda, and MOJWA. The US has two drone bases in Niger, at Niamey and Agadez, and 800 troops – thus the deaths of Sgt La David Johnson and three other US soldiers in 2017.
By 2100, Niger is expected to be the tenth largest country in the world with nearly half as many people as the US.
– Abagond, 2017.
See also:
- Niger
- Tazedar – a song by Safiath
- Niger ’66 – A Peace Corps Diary
- Sgt La David Johnson
- Africa: the last 13,000 years
- French
- Islam
- jihad
- DNA ancestry tests and Black Americans – Morgan Freeman likely has an ancestor from Niger, along with many other Americans. Slaves came to North America from as far inland as Niger.
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Next post suggestion: “racial” slavery and black-white divide in Mauritania with the Beidane-slave owners and the Haratin – descendants of slaves (and some are still slaves). I couldn’t find much about the origin of these two groups and their histories.
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I doubt this.
I would like to see the assumptions behind the demographic model that produces such results but I sense that one hidden assumption could read something like “those Africans are like rabbits and will procreate endlessly unless somebody intervenes”.
It is true that the today’s rates of grow of many African populations are high but a 80/100-year period is a very large time-span to believe that such rates will remain unabated.
Anyway, even if this or that specific society were collectively not smart enough to envisage the benefits of a slow-down in its numbers growth, environmental bounds remain. The ecology of the Niger river basin (not to confuse with the country!) is simply not able to sustain a so large population in that stretch.
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Reblogged this on Project ENGAGE.
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Gorgeous people
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@ munubantu
“…a 80/100-year period is a very large time-span to believe that such rates will remain unabated.
Anyway, even if this or that specific society were collectively not smart enough to envisage the benefits of a slow-down in its numbers growth, environmental bounds remain. The ecology of the Niger river basin (not to confuse with the country!) is simply not able to sustain a so large population in that stretch.
“
Good points.
There is also the specter of climate change and ongoing desertification in the Sahel region that would put the brakes on high population growth in that part of Africa.
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@ munubantu
I said:
That is based on a projection by the United Nations, its medium fertility variant projection:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_future_population_(United_Nations,_medium_fertility_variant)
That gives Niger 209 million people in 2100. That is ten times more people than it has now.
Niger has the highest fertility rate in the world: the average woman has about 6.8 children. And while the fertility rate is dropping, it is dropping slowly. The UN expects it to still be about 2.5 by 2100. By then even Latin America and Asia will be below replacement levels and shrinking.
As to the load that would place on the land, most Nigeriens are poor, subsistence farmers. The land can support way more people. Countries like Bangladesh, Costa Rica and the Philippines already support more people per square kilometre of arable land than Niger would have at 209 million:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_population_density_based_on_food_growing_capacity
Niger is huge. It has more arable land than, say, Thailand or Bangladesh. And yet it is only supporting 21 million people. Bangladesh is already at 162 million.
At Egyptian levels, Niger could support 388 million.
And all of that does not even count 2100 technology. BUT, yes, it does not count climate change either!
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“ongoing desertification” can be overcome with simple tools. Check out the Zai system invented by Yacouba Sawadogo of Burkina Faso. http://farmingafrica.net/2014/09/zai-system-overcomes-desertifacation/?lang=en
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMWPsVkW2TY)
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Had to look up ‘fifth wives,’ kinda puts #metoo to shame.
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@ Abagond
“At Egyptian levels, Niger could support 388 million.”
But should they?
What is the quality of life (food, water, sanitation, education, healthcare) for the average Egyptian? Bangladeshi? Filipino?
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@ Afrofem
What is the quality of life in Japan, Taiwan or South Korea? They have even more people than Egypt per square kilometre of arable land. So does the Netherlands compared to Bangladesh. And Switzerland compared to the Philippines.
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Niger is quite hot and dry. I am sure there is a limit to how many people it could support.
It is not like Java, Pearl River Delta, Taiwan, etc. which has fertile land, plenty of rain, year round growing season, etc. and can grow a lot of food.
Niger only gets about 2 months of reliable rain in the southern agricultural region.
I could not find any source or link to support this. The Philippines is much more densely populated and supports many more people on less arable land.
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@ jefe
Switzerland > Philippines:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_population_density_based_on_food_growing_capacity
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@ jefe
Both Egypt and California grow way more food than their rainfall would allow.
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@ Abagond
California imports a lot of water from other states. I don’t think it could possibly support the current population if that water supply was cut off.
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That wikipedia table looks a bit screwy. For example, Singapore and Hong Kong occupy the 1st and 2nd positions respectively, but Macau is #220.
And even if the data in the table is accurate, we cannot assume that there is a direct correlation between density per square area of arable land and a place’s ability to feed its population. I am not sure that we can use that table to prove anything.
Having said that, I am not really in an informed position to speculate how many people Niger could support. However, the argument about California or Egypt doesn’t do it for me either. Nevertheless, Uttar Pradesh holds even more people in less area, and they have a long hot dry season.
Maybe there is a way that Niger could hold so many people.
But, I have seen huge populations supported in small areas, eg, Java or the Pearl River delta. The latter makes greater New York City look semi-rural in comparison. The PRD is only slightly larger in area than greater new york city, but has a population of 100-120 million. Java is the size of Alabama and holds 145 million. The population densities in those areas just blow my mind.
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@ Abagond
You stated in this post: “[Niger]…has been bedevilled by drought, disease, military rule, Tuareg uprisings and is sometimes the scene of famine, even locusts.”
In my question about quality of life, my focus is on the women who (literally) carry the burden of mothering 6.8 children under those harsh conditions. They are the ones who tend the dusty fields, carry water, gather firewood, cook and clean.
Too many Nigerien women are married off while still young teens to older men with three or more other wives. They are little more than property that is exchanged from their father’s house to their husband’s house. What is their quality of life?
My concern is not with the “carrying capacity” of the arable land, but the people who must deal in a real way with the consequences of an exploding population.
Unlike England’s Prince William who has the nerve to blather on about overpopulation while he and his wife pump out baby after baby (at the expense of British taxpayers), I think of the quality of life of the women, men and children of Niger.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/02/prince-william-warns-many-people-world/
Is there is enough water to support every citizen of Niger? What are the prospects for improvement of the sanitation, healthcare and education infrastructure of Niger?
The people of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Switzerland all have fairly high quality of life. They are in the affluent Global North and they have basic infrastructure in place for their citizens. Until those basics are covered in culturally appropriate ways for the people of Niger, I personally don’t see an upside for the people (especially the women) of Niger in an exploding population scenario.
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@Afrofem
“In my question about quality of life, my focus is on the women who (literally) carry the burden of mothering 6.8 children under those harsh conditions. They are the ones who tend the dusty fields, carry water, gather firewood, cook and clean.
Too many Nigerien women are married off while still young teens to older men with three or more other wives. They are little more than property that is exchanged from their father’s house to their husband’s house. What is their quality of life?”
I have heard these sentiments before–they are from a “Western” cultural perspective……what may seem “harsh” to some—may be a lifestyle choice for others…? For example, in Japan…”western feminism” complained it was unfair to have women marry and become “home-makers”…that they should “get freedom” by working/having careers…The government encouraged it as it thought working women would increase their tax base—what happened?—women ended up working as well as carrying on their “traditional” duties so that the workload distribution became unfair….particularly with the care of two sets of ageing parents….”High quality of life”—may be so in material terms—but what of the mental/psychological stresses?…in Japan people die from “karoshi” (overwork death) others become “hikikomori” (withdraw from society)….etc…
Polygyny might seem unfair to some and not to others—An African women in a polygynous marriage explained that she found her husband other wives to marry so that the work load could be shared—if women are the ones making the choices/decisions—they are not just “property” they are empowered agents. Fathers and husbands are also human beings who can love and care for their family—-there is no need to underestimate human capacity to care for others by assuming that they do not see the humanity of their family……
It is ok for people to have various lifestyles—there need not be one monocultural “standard” for all humanity….?……our various cultural “norms” will no doubt have problems…but that does not mean they need to be ditched altogether because they do not conform to a “western” model….?…..
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Maybe we need a post on “fifth wives.”
The problem isn’t just polygamy: it’s slavery. The girls who are sold are called “fifth wives” but legally a man can only have four wives. So these girls have no protection that might otherwise be granted to them under marital laws. They aren’t legally married. They are treated as slaves, forced to do all the hard work, and most are also used for sex by their owner.
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“An African women in a polygynous marriage explained that she found her husband other wives to marry so that the work load could be shared—if women are the ones making the choices/decisions—they are not just “property” they are empowered agents.”
How many women were making the decisions in this case? Were all the women involved empowered agents? Or was it a situation where the first wife sought out the parents of teenage girls and arranged the marriages without consulting the girls or taking their own wants and desires into account?
Women are fully capable of oppressing other women for their own gain.
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And I wrote teenage girls, but some are much younger than that. A nine-year-old girl is not old enough to make a fully informed decision about getting married. It is impossible for her to be an “empowered agent.”
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@ anon
“It is ok for people to have various lifestyles—there need not be one monocultural “standard” for all humanity….?……our various cultural “norms” will no doubt have problems…but that does not mean they need to be ditched altogether because they do not conform to a “western” model….?…..”
You make valid points.
I agree that there is no one-size-fits-all standard for the way people form relationships, families or societies. Western culture has its share of pitfalls.
That being said, is polygyny a “lifestyle choice” for both men and women or a social obligation/expectation? What if a woman chooses another path? Does she face negative social sanctions?
My primary thoughts are on the basic infrastructure for the people of Niger: food, water, sanitation, healthcare and education. Is it culturally appropriate? Is it sufficient to meet their needs now and in the future? Would the people of Niger be best served by foreign interests leaving them to develop their society in ways that fit their needs?
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*”Zeinabou was 15 and a student in Yekoua, a small village in southern Niger, when her parents decided to marry her off against her will. She was forced to abruptly end her schooling in order to become her parents’ neighbor’s second wife….
“She had run away no fewer than four times, spent a night hidden away in a derelict house, even escaped to the local capital – only to be beaten by her parents and returned to her husband.”
http://m.dw.com/en/fighting-against-forced-marriages-in-niger/a-17892960
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A post on fifth wives in Niger would be good.
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I’m less concerned about the projected population of Niger than I am about the resource theft that Western countries are committing. It is sad that the same uranium mined from there can be used against the people of Niger by the same countries exploiting them.
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Damn! And that’s just the first lady!
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