Map of Niger River with Niger River basin in green

The Niger River (pronounced /ˈnaɪdʒɚ/ NYE-jer) is the principal river of western Africa, extending about 4180 km (2600 miles). "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 square kilometres (817,600 sq mi) in area. A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, ^[1] It runs in a crescent through Guinea, Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta of the Oil Rivers, into the Gulf of Guinea. Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea (pronounced /ˈgɪni/ République de Guinée is a country in West Africa, formerly known as French Guinea Mali, officially the Republic of Mali (République du Mali is a Landlocked nation in Western Africa. Niger ( or /ˈnaɪdʒɚ/) officially the Republic of Niger, is a Landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Benin (bə'nɪn officially the Republic of Benin, and also known as Benin Republic, is a country in Western Africa. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal A delta is a Landform where the mouth of a River flows into an Ocean, Sea, Estuary, Lake or another river The Niger Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a The Niger Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a The Gulf of Guinea is the part of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Africa. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded only by the Nile and the Congo River (also known as the Zaïre River). The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. Its main tributary is the Benue River. A tributary is a Stream or River which flows into a mainstem (or parent river The Benue River (la Bénoué is the major Tributary of the Niger River.

For much of the 18th century, the exact location and course of the Niger remained virtually unknown to Europe, but many expeditions to plot the river were unsuccessful. In 1788 the African Association was formed in England to promote the exploration of Africa in the hopes of locating the Niger, and in June of 1786 the Scottish explorer Mungo Park was the first European to lay eyes on the river. The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (commonly known as the African Association) founded in London on June 9

Etymology

Niger river at Kulikoro

The origin of the name Niger is not certain. Koulikoro is a city in Mali. The capital of the Koulikoro Region, Koulikoro is located on banks of the Niger River, from Mali's capital Bamako On early European maps it applied only to the middle reaches of the river, in modern Mali, while Quorra or Kworra was used for the lower reaches in modern Nigeria. The name Niger was extended to cover the entire river on maps once Europeans realized that these were one and the same.

A good possibility for a source is the Tuareg phrase gher n gheren "river of rivers", shortened to ngher, a local name used along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu. The Tuareg (also Twareg or Touareg, Amazigh: Imuhagh / Itargiyen, besides regional ethnyms are a Nomadic Timbuktu ( Timbuctoo; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu; French: Tombouctou) is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African

It is often assumed, without evidence, that Niger derives from the Latin word for "black", niger, but it would have been more likely for the Portuguese explorers who first wrote this name on their maps to have used the Portuguese word, negro, as they did elsewhere in the world. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. In any case the Niger is not a blackwater river, which was the motivation for all other rivers that were called black. A blackwater river is a river with a deep slow-moving channel that flows through forested Swamps and Wetlands. (See Rio Negro. For other uses see Rio Negro (disambiguation Rio Negro ( Portuguese: Rio Negro, Spanish: Río Negro ) Some have rationalized that 'black' may have referred to the color of the people living on the river, but this did not happen to any other river in Africa. Therefore it would seem that the similarity between the name Niger and the Latin word niger is either coincidence, or that knowledge of Latin influenced the spelling of an indigenous name like ngher.

It is worth mentioning that the Tabula Peutingeriana records a Flumen Girin ("River Girin") with the remark Hoc flumen quidam Grin vocant, alii Nilum appellant; dicitur enim sub terra Etyopium in Nylum ire Lacum,^[2] "This river which some are naming Grin is called Nile by others, for it is said to flow under the ground of Ethiopia [i. The Tabula Peutingeriana ( Peutinger table) is an Itinerarium showing the Cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. e. Africa] into the Nile Lake".

The nations of Nigeria and Niger are named after the river. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Niger ( or /ˈnaɪdʒɚ/) officially the Republic of Niger, is a Landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. The people who live along it have a variety of names for it, such as Jeliba or Joliba "great river" in Manding, Isa Ber "big river" in Songhay, and Oya, a Yoruba River Niger goddess. The Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in West Africa, belonging to the Mande languages. The Songhay or Songhai languages, (soŋaj or in the dialects of Gao and Timbuktu are a group of closely related Languages Dialects centered on the

Geography

Mud houses on the center island at Lake Debo, a wide section of the Niger River

The Niger River is a relatively "clear" river, carrying only a tenth as much sediment as the Nile because the Niger's headlands are located in ancient rocks that provide little silt. Lake Débo is a Lake in central part of Mali, formed by the seasonal flooding of the Niger River basin The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River Silt is Soil or rock derived Granular material of a Grain size between sand and clay ^[3] Like the Nile, the Niger floods yearly; this begins in September, peaks in November, and finishes by May. ^[4]

An unusual feature of the river is the Niger Inland Delta, which forms where its gradient suddenly decreases. The Niger Inland Delta, also known as the Macina or Inner Niger Delta, is a large area of Lakes and Floodplains in Mali. In Vector calculus, the gradient of a Scalar field is a Vector field which points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar ^[5] The result is a region of braided streams, marshes, and lakes the size of Belgium; the seasonal floods make the Delta extremely productive for both fishing and agriculture. Not to be confused with the River Braid Ballymena, Northern Ireland. In Geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of Wetland which is subject The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those For the computer security term see Phishing. Fishing is the activity of catching Fish. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture ^[6]

The Niger takes one of the most unusual routes of any major river, a boomerang shape that baffled European geographers for two millennia. A boomerang is a simple implement used for various purposes It is primarily associated with Australian Aborigines but has been found amongst peoples of North Its source is just 240 km (150 mi) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, but the river runs away from the sea into the Sahara Desert, then takes a sharp right turn near the ancient city of Timbuktu (Tombouctou) and heads southeast to the Gulf of Guinea. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest Timbuktu ( Timbuctoo; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu; French: Tombouctou) is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African

Ancient Romans thought that the river near Timbuktu was part of the Nile River (e. This is a list of topics related to ancient Rome that aims to include aspects of both the ancient Roman Republic and Roman Empire. Timbuktu ( Timbuctoo; Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu; French: Tombouctou) is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African g. , Pliny, N. Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author H. 5. 10), a belief also held by Ibn Battuta, while early 17th-century European explorers thought that it flowed west and joined the Senegal River. Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن عبد الله اللواتي الطنجي بن بطوطة (born February The Sénégal River is a 1790 km long River in West Africa, that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania. The true course was probably known to many locals, but Westerners only established it in the late 19th century, firstly mentioned in the book Travels in the Interior of Africa by the Scottish explorer Mungo Park. The Scots people ( Scots Gaelic: Albannaich) are a Nation and an Ethnic group indigenous to Scotland. Mungo Park ( September 11, 1771 &ndash 1806 was a Scottish explorer of the African continent This strange geography apparently came about because the Niger River is two ancient rivers joined together. The upper Niger, from the source past the trading city of Timbuktu to the bend in the current river, once emptied into a now-gone lake, while the lower Niger started in hills near that lake and flowed south into the Gulf of Guinea. The Gulf of Guinea is the part of the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Africa. As the Sahara dried up in 4000-1000 BC, the two rivers altered their courses and hooked up. (This explanation is generally accepted, although some geographers disagree. )

The northern part of the river, known as the Niger bend, is an important area because it is the closest major river and source of water to that part of the Sahara desert. The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest This made it the focal point of trade across the western Sahara, and the centre of the Sahelian kingdoms of Mali and Gao. The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of kingdoms or empires that were centered on the Sahel, the area of grasslands south of the Sahara. The Mali Empire or Manding Empire or Manden Kurufa was a Medieval West African civilization of the Mandinka from c Gao is a city in Mali and capital of the Gao Region on the River Niger, with a population of 57978 in 2005

The surrounding Niger River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the Sudan province, which in turn is part of the larger African massive physiographic division.

See also

• Niger Basin Authority

References

External links

• Information and a map of the Niger's watershed
• Map of the Niger River basin at Water Resources eAtlas
• Niger Currents: Exploring life and technology along the Niger River

International law and the River Niger

• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See Niger River. Peace Palace Libray
• Fabio Spadi, "The ICJ Judgment in the Benin-Niger Border Dispute: the interplay of titles and ‘effectivités’ under the uti possidetis juris principle", Leiden Journal of International Law(2005) 4, pp. 777-794.

Pictures

Pictures of the Niger River in Mali