Editing Niger (section)

=== Colonial (1900–1958) ===
[[File:French West Africa - DPLA - 53944da3422ceec80ca02617ad7fb2e0.jpg|thumb|[[French West Africa]] in 1949]]
{{Main|Senegambia and Niger|Upper Senegal and Niger|French West Africa|Colony of Niger}}
In the 19th century, some European explorers travelled in the area that would become known as Niger, such as [[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]] (in 1805–1806), the [[Walter Oudney|Oudney]]-[[Dixon Denham|Denham]]-[[Hugh Clapperton|Clapperton]] expedition (1822–25), [[Heinrich Barth]] (1850–55 with [[James Richardson (explorer)|James Richardson]] and [[Adolf Overweg]]), [[Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs]] (1865–1867), [[Gustav Nachtigal]] (1869–1874) and [[Parfait-Louis Monteil]] (1890–1892).<ref name="Bradt"/>

Some European countries already possessed coastal colonies in Africa, and in the latter half of the century they began to turn their eyes towards the interior of the continent. This process, known as the '[[Scramble for Africa]]', culminated in the [[Berlin Conference|1885 Berlin conference]] in which the colonial powers outlined the division of Africa into spheres of influence. As a result of this, [[France]] gained control of the upper valley of the [[Niger River]] (roughly equivalent to the present territory of [[Mali]] and Niger).<ref name="IBS093">{{citation|url=https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS093.pdf|title=International Boundary Study No. 93 – Niger-Nigeria Boundary|date=15 December 1969|access-date=6 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001160001/https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS093.pdf|archive-date=1 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> France then set about making a reality of their rule on the ground. In 1897, the French officer [[Marius Gabriel Cazemajou]] was sent to Niger. He reached the [[Sultanate of Damagaram]] in 1898, and stayed in [[Zinder]] at the court of Sultan Amadou Kouran Daga. He was later killed, as Daga feared he would ally with the Chad-based warlord Rabih az-Zubayr.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> In 1899–1900, France coordinated three expeditions—the [[Émile Gentil|Gentil Mission]] from [[French Congo]], the [[Amédée-François Lamy|Foureau-Lamy Mission]] from [[Algeria]] and the [[Voulet–Chanoine Mission]] from [[Timbuktu]]—with the aim of linking France's African possessions.<ref name="IBS093"/> The three eventually met at [[Kousséri]] (in the far north of [[Cameroon]]) and defeated Rabih az-Zubayr's forces at the [[Battle of Kousséri]]. The Voulet-Chanoine Mission was "marred by atrocities", and "became notorious" for pillaging, looting, raping and killing local civilians on its passage throughout southern Niger.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/><ref name="Bradt"/> On 8 May 1899, in retaliation for the resistance of queen [[Sarraounia]], captain Voulet and his men murdered all the inhabitants of the village of [[Birni-N'Konni]] in what is regarded as "one of the worst massacres in French colonial history".<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The "brutal" methods of Voulet and Chanoine caused a "scandal" and Paris was forced to intervene; when Lieutenant-Colonel [[Jean-François Klobb]] caught up with the mission near [[Tessaoua]] to relieve them of command he was killed. Lt. [[Paul Joalland]], Klobb's former officer, and Lt. [[Octave Meynier]] eventually took over the mission following a mutiny in which Voulet and Chanoine were killed.<ref name="Bradt"/>
The Military Territory of Niger was subsequently created within the [[Upper Senegal and Niger]] colony (later Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) in December 1904 with its capital at [[Niamey]].<ref name="Bradt"/> The [[Niger-Nigeria border|border]] with Britain's colony of Nigeria to the south was finalised in 1910, a rough delimitation having already been agreed by the two powers via treaties during the period 1898–1906.<ref name="IBS093"/> The capital of the territory was moved to Zinder in 1912 when the Niger Military Territory was split off from Upper Senegal and Niger, before being moved back to Niamey in 1922 when Niger became a fully fledged colony within [[French West Africa]].<ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The borders of Niger were drawn up in stages and had been fixed at their later position by the 1930s. Territorial adjustments took place in this period: the areas west of the Niger river were [[Burkina Faso–Niger border|attached]] to Niger in 1926–1927, and during the dissolution of Upper Volta (modern Burkina Faso) in 1932–1947 most of the east of that territory was added to Niger;<ref name="IBS146">{{citation|url=https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS146.pdf|title=International Boundary Study No. 146 – Burkina Faso-Niger Boundary|date=18 November 1974|access-date=5 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001160026/https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS146.pdf|archive-date=1 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="H-Dictionary"/> and in the east the [[Tibesti Mountains]] were [[Chad-Niger border|transferred]] to Chad in 1931.<ref name="IBS73">{{citation|url=https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS073.pdf|title=International Boundary Study No. 73 – Chad-Niger Boundary|date=1 August 1966|access-date=5 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001160014/https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS073.pdf|archive-date=1 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

The French generally adopted a form of indirect rule, allowing existing native structures to continue to exist within the colonial framework of governance providing that they acknowledged French supremacy.<ref name="Bradt"/> The Zarma of the Dosso Kingdom in particular proved amenable to French rule, using them as allies against the encroachments of Hausa and other nearby states; over time the Zarma thus became one of the "more educated and westernised" groups in Niger.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> Perceived threats to French rule, such as the Kobkitanda rebellion in [[Dosso Region]] (1905–1906), led by the blind cleric Alfa Saibou, and the Karma revolt in the Niger valley (December 1905 – March 1906) led by Oumarou Karma were suppressed with force, as were the latter [[Hamallayya]] and [[Hauka]] religious movements.<ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="H-Dictionary">{{cite book |author1=Decalo, Samuel |author2=Idrissa, Abdourahmane |title=Historical Dictionary of Niger |date=1 June 2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810870901 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFFjEMjKrWkC&pg=PA286 |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725153320/https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=GFFjEMjKrWkC&pg=PA286&lpg=PA286 |archive-date=25 July 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>''UNESCO General History of Africa'', Vol. VIII: Africa Since 1935. Ali A. Mazrui, Christophe Wondji, Unesco International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa, eds. University of California Press, (1999) {{ISBN|0-520-06703-7}} pp. 70–3</ref> While "largely successful" in subduing the "sedentary" populations of the south, the French faced "considerably more difficulty" with the Tuareg in the north (centered on the Sultanate of Aïr in Agadez), and France was unable to occupy Agadez until 1906.<ref name="Bradt"/> Tuareg resistance continued, culminating in the [[Kaocen revolt]] of 1916–1917, led by [[Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen]], with backing from the [[Senussi]] in [[Fezzan]]; the revolt was violently suppressed and Kaocen fled to Fezzan where he was later killed.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> A puppet sultan was set up by the French and the "decline and marginalisation" of the north of the colony continued, exacerbated by a series of droughts.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> While it remained "something of a backwater", some limited economic development took place in Niger during the colonial years, such as the introduction of [[Hausa groundnut|groundnut]] cultivation.<ref name="Bradt"/> Measures to improve food security following a series of devastating famines in 1913, 1920, and 1931 were introduced.<ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="H-Dictionary"/>

During the [[Second World War]], during which time mainland France was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]], [[Charles de Gaulle]] issued the Brazzaville Declaration, declaring that the French colonial empire would be replaced post-war with a less centralised [[French Union]].<ref>Joseph R. De Benoist, "The Brazzaville Conference, or Involuntary Decolonization." ''Africana Journal'' 15 (1990) pp: 39–58.</ref> The French Union, which lasted from 1946 to 1958, conferred a limited form of French citizenship on the inhabitants of the colonies, with some decentralisation of power and limited participation in political life for local advisory assemblies. It was during this period that the [[Nigerien Progressive Party – African Democratic Rally|Nigerien Progressive Party]] (''Parti Progressiste Nigérien'', or PPN, originally a branch of the African Democratic Rally, or ''[[Rassemblement Démocratique Africain]]'' – RDA) was formed under the leadership of former teacher [[Hamani Diori]], as was the left-wing [[Mouvement Socialiste Africain-Sawaba]] (MSA), led by [[Djibo Bakary]]. Following the Overseas Reform Act (''Loi Cadre'') of 23 July 1956 and the establishment of the [[Fifth French Republic]] on 4 December 1958, Niger became an autonomous state within the [[French Community]]. On 18 December 1958, an autonomous Republic of Niger was officially created under the leadership of Hamani Diori. MSA was banned in 1959 for its perceived excessive anti-French stance.<ref name=djibo03>Mamoudou Djibo. Les enjeux politiques dans la colonie du Niger (1944–1960). Autrepart no 27 (2003), pp. 41–60.</ref> On 11 July 1960, Niger decided to leave the French Community and acquired full independence at midnight, local time, on 3 August 1960;<ref>Keesing's Contemporary Archives, page 17569.</ref> Diori thus became the first [[List of Presidents of Niger|president]] of the country.