Republic of Niger
Grids & Datums REPUBLIC OF NIGE R by Clifford J. Mugnier, C.P., C.M.S. “Considerable evidence indicates that about 600,000 years ago, humans widespread strikes and economic stagnation, president Mainassara inhabited what has since become the desolate Sahara of northern Niger. (1996 coup leader) was assassinated and democracy re-established. Long before the arrival of French influence and control in the area, Niger Peaceful elections in 1999 and 2004 witnessed victory for Mamadou was an important economic crossroads and the empires of Songhai, Tandja”(Niger – Lonely Planet, 2011). Mali, Gao, Kanem, and Bornu, as well as a number of Hausa states Bordered by Algeria (956 km) (PE&RS, October 2001), Benin (266 claimed control over portions of the area. During recent centuries, the km) (PE&RS, July 2003), Burkina Faso (628 km) (PE&RS, January 2005), nomadic Tuareg formed large confederations, pushed southward, and, Chad (1,175 km), Libya (354 km) (PE&RS, June 2006), Mali (821 km) siding with various Hausa states, clashed with the Fulani Empire of (PE&RS, October 2010), and Nigeria (1,497 km) (PE&RS, February Sokoto, which had gained control of much of the Hausa territory in the 2009); Niger has predominately desert plains and sand dunes, flat late 18th century. In the 19th century, contact with the West began to rolling plains in the south and hills in the north. The lowest point when the first European explorers – notably Mungo Park (British) and is the Niger River (200 m), and the highest point is Idoûkâl-n-Taghès Heinrich Barth (German) – explored the area searching for the mouth (2,022 m).
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