Editing Niger (section)

=== Empires and kingdoms in pre-colonial Niger ===
By at least the 5th century BC the territory of what is now Niger had become an area of trans-Saharan trade. Led by [[Tuareg]] tribes from the north, camels were used as a means of transportation through what is later a desert.<ref>Lewicki, T. (1994). "The Role of the Sahara and Saharians in Relationships between North and South". In ''UNESCO General History of Africa: Volume 3.'' University of California Press, {{ISBN|92-3-601709-6}}.</ref><ref name=Masonen>
Masonen, P: "[http://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html Trans-Saharan Trade and the West African Discovery of the Mediterranean World.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008085939/http://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html |date=8 October 2006 }}"
</ref> This mobility which would continue in waves for centuries was accompanied with further migration to the south and intermixing between sub-Saharan African and North African populations, and the spread of [[Islam]].<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> It was aided by the [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb]] in the 7th century, the result of three Arab invasions, which resulted in population movements to the south.<ref name="larousse-history"/> Empires and kingdoms existed in the Sahel during this era. The following adopts a roughly chronological account of some empires.

==== Mali Empire (1200s–1400s) ====
{{Main|Mali Empire}}
The Mali Empire was a [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]] empire founded by [[Sundiata Keita]] (r. 1230–1255) in {{circa|1230}} and existed until the 1600s. As detailed in the ''[[Epic of Sundiata]]'', Mali emerged as a breakaway region of the [[Sosso Empire]] which itself had split from the earlier [[Ghana Empire]]. Thereafter Mali defeated the Sosso at the [[Battle of Kirina]] in 1235 and then Ghana in 1240.<ref name="oxfordre1">{{cite book|url = https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-266|author = Sirio Canós-Donnay|title = Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History|chapter = The Empire of Mali| publisher = Oxford Research Encyclopedias|date = February 2019|doi = 10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.266|isbn = 978-0-19-027773-4|access-date = 13 November 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190730024800/https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-266| archive-date = 30 July 2019| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Mali_Empire/|title = Mali Empire|publisher = Ancient Origins|date = 1 March 2019|access-date = 13 November 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190729130448/https://www.worldhistory.org/Mali_Empire/|archive-date = 29 July 2019|url-status = live}}</ref> From its heartland around the later Guinea-Mali border region, the empire expanded under successive kings and came to dominate the Trans-Saharan trade routes, reaching its greatest extent during the rule of [[Mansa Musa]] (r. 1312–1337).{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} At this point parts of what are now Niger's [[Tillabéri Region]] fell under Malian rule.<ref name="oxfordre1"/> A Muslim, Mansa Musa performed the ''[[hajj]]'' in 1324–25 and encouraged the spread of [[Islam]] in the empire, and it "appears that most ordinary citizens continued to maintain their traditional animist beliefs instead of or alongside the new religion".<ref name="oxfordre1"/><ref name="ancient1">{{cite web|url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Mali_Empire/|title = Mali Empire|publisher = World History Encyclopedia|access-date = 13 November 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190729130448/https://www.worldhistory.org/Mali_Empire/|archive-date = 29 July 2019|url-status = live}}</ref> The empire began "declining" in the 15th century due to a combination of internecine strife over the royal succession, weak kings, the shift of European trade routes to the coast, and rebellions in the empire's periphery by [[Mossi people|Mossi]], [[Wolof people|Wolof]], [[Tuareg]] and [[Songhai people|Songhai]] peoples.<ref name="ancient1"/> A rump Mali kingdom continued to exist until the 1600s.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==== Songhai Empire (1000s–1591) ====
[[File:SONGHAI empire map.PNG|thumb|left|Map of the Songhai Empire, overlaid over modern boundaries]]
{{Main|Songhai Empire}}
The [[Songhai Empire]] was named for its main ethnic group, the [[Songhai people|Songhai or Sonrai]], and was centred on the bend of the [[Niger River]] in [[Mali]]. Songhai began settling this region from the 7th to 9th centuries;{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} by the 11th century [[Gao]] (capital of the former [[Kingdom of Gao]]) had become the empire's capital.<ref name="boubou-hama">Boubou Hama and M Guilhem, "L’histoire du Niger, de l’Afrique et du Monde"; Edicef, ''Les royaumes Haoussa'', pp. 104–112</ref><ref name=countrystudy>{{cite book|editor1-last=Metz|editor1-first=Helen Chapin|editor1-link=Helen Chapin Metz |title=Nigeria: A Country Study|date=1991|publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress|location=Washington, DC|url=http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/9.htm|access-date=14 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103012936/http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/9.htm|archive-date=3 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> From 1000 to 1325, the Songhai Empire managed to maintain peace with the Mali Empire, its neighbour to the west. In 1325 Songhai was conquered by Mali until regaining its independence in 1375.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} Under king [[Sonni Ali]] (r. 1464–1492) Songhai adopted an expansionist policy which reached its apogee during the reign of [[Askia Mohammad I]] (r. 1493–1528); at this point the empire had expanded from its Niger-bend heartland, including to the east where most of later western Niger fell under its rule, including [[Agadez]] which was conquered in 1496.<ref name="Bradt"/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Songhai_Empire/|title = Songhai Empire|publisher = World History Encyclopedia|access-date = 13 November 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190729123752/https://www.worldhistory.org/Songhai_Empire/|archive-date = 29 July 2019|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.africankingdoms.com African Kingdoms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519102901/http://www.africankingdoms.com/|date=19 May 2019}} African kingdoms – The Songhai Empire</ref> The empire was unable to withstand repeated attacks from the [[Saadi dynasty]] of [[Morocco]] and was decisively defeated at the [[Battle of Tondibi]] in 1591; it then collapsed into a number of smaller kingdoms.<ref name=countrystudy/>

==== Sultanate of Aïr (1400s–1906) ====
[[File:1997 277-9A Agadez mosque cropped.jpg|thumb|right|[[Agadez Mosque|The Grand Mosque of Agadez]]]]
{{Main|Sultanate of Aïr}}
In {{circa|1449}} in the north of what is now Niger, the [[Sultanate of Aïr]] was founded by Sultan Ilisawan, based in [[Agadez]].<ref name="Bradt"/> Formerly a trading post inhabited by a mixture of Hausa and Tuaregs, it grew as a strategic position on the Trans-Saharan trade routes. In 1515, Aïr was conquered by Songhai, remaining a part of that empire until its collapse in 1591.<ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="H-Dictionary"/> In the following centuries, it "seems that the sultanate entered a decline" marked by internecine wars and clan conflicts.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> When Europeans began exploring the region in the 19th century, most of Agadez lay in ruins and was taken over by the French (''see below'').<ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="H-Dictionary"/>

==== Kanem–Bornu Empire (700s–1700s) ====
{{Main|Kanem–Bornu Empire|Sultanate of Damagaram}}
To the east, the [[Kanem–Bornu Empire]] dominated the region around [[Lake Chad]] for a period.<ref name=countrystudy/> It was founded by the [[Zaghawa people|Zaghawa]] around the 8th century and based in [[Njimi]], north-east of the lake. The kingdom gradually expanded, including during the rule of the [[Sayfawa dynasty]] which began in {{circa|1075}} under ''Mai'' (king) [[Hummay]].<ref name="ancient2">{{cite web| url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Kingdom_of_Kanem/| title = Kingdom of Kanem| publisher = World History Encyclopedia| author = Cartwright, Mark| date = 23 April 2019| access-date = 13 November 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190508165923/https://www.worldhistory.org/Kingdom_of_Kanem/| archive-date = 8 May 2019| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ryder|first=A.F.C.|title=General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|year=1981|publisher=UNESCO|location=Paris|page=239|editor=D.T. Niane}}</ref> The kingdom reached its greatest extent in the 1200s, partly due to the effort of ''Mai'' [[Dunama Dibbalemi]] (r. 1210–1259), and grew "richer" from its control of some Trans-Saharan trade routes; most of eastern and south-eastern Niger, including [[Bilma]] and [[Kaouar]], was under Kanem's control in this period.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ryder|first=A.F.C.|title=General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|year=1981|publisher=UNESCO|location=Paris|pages=251–52|editor=D.T. Niane}}</ref> Islam had been introduced to the kingdom by Arab traders from the 11th century, gaining more converts over the following centuries.<ref name="ancient2"/> Attacks by the [[Bulala]] people in the 14th century forced Kanem to shift westwards of Lake Chad where it became known as the Bornu Empire ruled from its capital [[Ngazargamu]] on what is later the [[Niger-Nigeria border]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ryder|first=A.F.C.|title=General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century|year=1981|publisher=UNESCO|location=Paris|pages=258–65|editor=D.T. Niane}}</ref><ref name="ancient2"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Islam in Africa|author-link=Nehemia Levtzion|author1=Nehemia Levtzion|author2=Randall Pouwels|publisher=Ohio University Press|page=81}}</ref> Bornu "prospered" during the rule of ''Mai'' [[Idris Alooma]] (r. circa 1575–1610) and re-conquered most of the "traditional lands" of Kanem, hence the designation 'Kanem–Bornu' for the empire. By the 17th century and into the 18th the Bornu kingdom had entered a "period of decline", shrinking back to its Lake Chad heartland.<ref name=countrystudy/><ref name="ancient2"/>

Circa 1730–40 a group of [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]] settlers led by Mallam Yunus left Kanem and founded the [[Sultanate of Damagaram]], centred on the town of [[Zinder]].<ref name="H-Dictionary"/> The sultanate remained nominally subject to the [[Borno Empire]] until the reign of Sultan Tanimoune Dan Souleymane in the 19th century, who declared independence and initiated a phase of expansion.<ref name="Bradt"/> The sultanate managed to resist the advance of the Sokoto Caliphate (''see below''), and was later captured by the French in 1899.<ref name="Bradt"/>

==== The Hausa states and other smaller kingdoms (1400s–1800s) ====
[[File:Photo1906 Zinder overview.jpg|thumb|Overlooking the town of [[Zinder]] and the Sultan's Palace from the French fort (1906). The arrival of the French spelled an end for precolonial states like the [[Sultanate of Damagaram]] which carried on only as ceremonial "chiefs" appointed by the colonial government.]]
{{Main|Hausa Kingdoms|Dosso Kingdom|Dendi Kingdom}}
Between the Niger River and Lake Chad lay [[Hausa Kingdoms]], encompassing the cultural-linguistic area known as [[Hausaland]] which straddles what later became the [[Niger-Nigeria border]].<ref name="ancient3">{{cite web| url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Hausaland/| title = Hausaland| publisher = World History Encyclopedia| author = Cartwright, Mark| date = 9 May 2019| access-date = 13 November 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191226173321/https://www.worldhistory.org/Hausaland/| archive-date = 26 December 2019| url-status = live}}</ref> The Hausa are thought to be a mixture of autochthonous peoples and migrant peoples from the north and east, emerging as a distinct people sometime in the 900s–1400s when the kingdoms were founded.<ref name="ancient3"/><ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter5.shtml| title = Hausa States| publisher = BBC| access-date = 13 November 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180915100345/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter5.shtml| archive-date = 15 September 2018| url-status = live}}</ref> They gradually adopted Islam from the 14th century, and sometimes this existed alongside other religions, developing into syncretic forms; some Hausa groups such as the Azna resisted Islam altogether (the area of [[Dogondoutchi]] remains an animist stronghold).<ref name="Bradt"/><ref name=countrystudy/> The Hausa kingdoms were not a compact entity but several federations of kingdoms more or less independent of one other. Their organisation was hierarchical and somewhat democratic: the Hausa kings were elected by the notables of the country and could be removed by them.<ref name="boubou-hama"/> The Hausa Kingdoms began as seven states founded, according to the [[Bayajidda]] legend, by the six sons of Bawo.<ref name="ancient3"/><ref name=countrystudy/> Bawo was the only son of the Hausa queen [[Daurama]] and [[Bayajidda]] or ([[Abu Yazid]] according to certain historians) who came from [[Baghdad]]. The seven original Hausa states (also referred to as the 'Hausa bakwai') were: [[Daura Emirate|Daura]] (state of queen [[Daurama]]), [[Sultanate of Kano|Kano]], [[Rano]], [[Zazzau|Zaria]], [[Gobir]], [[Katsina (city)|Katsina]] and [[Hadejia|Biram]].<ref name="boubou-hama"/><ref name="Bradt"/><ref name="autogenerated1"/> An extension of the legend states that Bawo had a further seven sons with a concubine, who went on to found the so-called 'Banza (''illegitimate'') Bakwai': [[Zamfara]], [[Kebbi Emirate|Kebbi]], [[Nupe Kingdom|Nupe]], [[Gwari]], [[Yauri Emirate|Yauri]], [[Ilorin Emirate|Ilorin]] and [[Kwararafa]].<ref name="autogenerated1"/> A smaller state not fitting into this scheme was [[Konni (Hausa state)|Konni]], centred on [[Birni-N'Konni]].<ref name="H-Dictionary"/>
[[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913.png|thumb|250px|Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913]]
The [[Fulani]] (also called Peul, Fulbe etc.), a pastoral people found throughout the Sahel, began migrating to Hausaland during the 1200s–1500s.<ref name=countrystudy/><ref name="ancient3"/> During the later 18th century some Fulani were unhappy with the syncretic form of Islam practised there; exploiting also the populace's disdain with corruption amongst the Hausa elite, the Fulani scholar [[Usman Dan Fodio]] (from Gobir) declared a [[Fulani jihad|jihad]] in 1804.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/><ref name="Bradt"/><ref name=fisher1975>H. J. Fisher. The Sahara and Central Sudan. in The Cambridge History of Africa: From C 1600 to C 179. Richard Gray, J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver, eds. Cambridge University Press, (1975) {{ISBN|0-521-20413-5}} pp. 134–6</ref> After conquering most of Hausaland (though not the Bornu Kingdom, which remained independent), he proclaimed the [[Sokoto Caliphate]] in 1809.<ref name="ancient3"/> Some of the Hausa states survived by fleeing south, such as the Katsina who moved to [[Maradi, Niger|Maradi]] in the south of what later became Niger.<ref name=countrystudy/> Some of these surviving states harassed the Caliphate and a period of wars and skirmishes commenced, with some states (such as Katsina and Gobir) maintaining independence whereas elsewhere newer ones were formed (such as the [[Sultanate of Tessaoua]]). The Caliphate managed to survive until, "fatally weakened" by the invasions of Chad-based warlord [[Rabih az-Zubayr]], it finally fell to the British in 1903, with its lands later being partitioned between Britain and France.<ref name=Falola-2>{{cite book|last=Falola|first=Toyin|title=Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria|year=2009|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, IN}}</ref>

Other smaller kingdoms of the period include the [[Dosso Kingdom]], a [[Zarma people|Zarma]] polity founded in 1750, which resisted the rule of Hausa and Sokoto states.<ref name="H-Dictionary"/>