25 Facts About Niger

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.

Military Territory of Niger was created within the Upper Senegal and Niger colony in December 1904 with its capital at Niamey.

The borders of Niger were drawn up in stages and had been fixed at their later position by the 1930s.

On 18 December 1958, an autonomous Republic of Niger was officially created under the leadership of Hamani Diori.

On 11 July 1960, Niger decided to leave the French Community and acquired full independence at midnight, local time, on 3 August 1960; Diori thus became the first president of the country.

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Niger remained a one-party state throughout this period, with Diori surviving a planned coup in 1963 and an assassination attempt in 1965; most of this activity was masterminded by Djibo Bakary's MSA-Sawaba group which had launched an abortive rebellion in 1964.

Territory of Niger contains five terrestrial ecoregions: Sahelian Acacia savanna, West Sudanian savanna, Lake Chad flooded savanna, South Saharan steppe and woodlands, and West Saharan montane xeric woodlands.

Niger pursues a moderate foreign policy and maintains friendly relations with the West and the Islamic world as well as non-aligned countries.

Niger maintains a special relationship with former colonial power France and has close relations with its West African neighbors.

The westernmost regions of Niger are joined with contiguous regions of Mali and Burkina Faso under the Liptako-Gourma Authority.

Border dispute with Benin, inherited from colonial times and concerning inter alia Lete Island in the Niger River, was solved by the International Court of Justice in 2005 to Niger's advantage.

The armed forces of Niger have been involved several military coups over the years with the most recent in 2010.

Current Judiciary of Niger was established with the creation of the Fourth Republic in 1999.

Law enforcement in Niger is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense through the National Gendarmerie and the Ministry of the Interior through the National Police and the National Guard.

The most important donors in Niger are France, the European Union, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and various United Nations agencies.

Niger is divided into 7 Regions and one capital district.

Niger subvisions were renamed in 2002, in the implementation of a decentralisation project, first begun in 1998.

Previously, Niger was divided into 7 Departments, 36 Arrondissements, and Communes.

Niger is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa.

Niger has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1970.

Niger is a secular country and separation of state and religion is guaranteed by Articles 3 and 175 of the 2010 Constitution, which dictate that future amendments or revisions may not modify the secular nature of the republic of Niger.

Islam was spread into what is Niger beginning in the 15th century, by both the expansion of the Songhai Empire in the west, and the influence of the Trans-Saharan trade traveling from the Maghreb and Egypt.

Literacy rate of Niger is among the lowest in the world; in 2005 it was estimated to be only 28.

Child mortality rate in Niger is high (248 per 1, 000) due to generally poor health conditions and inadequate nutrition for most of the country's children.

Niger is often located at the bottom of the UN Human Development Index.

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