Agadez

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Agadez

Agadez (also Agades) is the largest city in northern Niger

Niger

Niger , officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east....
, with a population of 88,569 (2005 census). It lies in the Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometers , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe....
and is the capital of Aïr

AIR

Air is the part of Earth's atmosphere that humans breath and as such Air .Air may also refer to:...
, one of the traditional Tuareg

Tuareg

The Tuareg are a nomadic pastoralist people. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. They call themselves variously Kel Tamasheq or Kel Tamajaq , Imuhagh, Imazaghan or Imashaghen , or Kel Tagelmust, i.e., "People of the Veil"....
federations. The city is also the capital of the Agadez Region, with a population of 347,330 (2005).
city was founded before the fourteenth century and gradually became the most important Tuareg

Tuareg

Assodé

Assod? was a town in the A?r Mountains in what is now northern Niger. Founded around the eleventh century, it was long the most important Tuareg town, benefiting from trans-Saharan trade, and declining with it from the eighteenth century....
, by growing around trans-Saharan trade

Trans-Saharan trade

Trans-Saharan trade is trade across the Sahara between Mediterranean countries and sub-Saharan Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of such trade extended from the eighth century until the late sixteenth century....
.

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Encyclopedia

Agadez (also Agades) is the largest city in northern Niger

Niger

Sahara

AIR

Air is the part of Earth's atmosphere that humans breath and as such Air .Air may also refer to:...
, one of the traditional Tuareg

Tuareg

History

The city was founded before the fourteenth century and gradually became the most important Tuareg

Tuareg

Assodé

Trans-Saharan trade

Camel train

A camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points....
s, bringing salt

Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
from Bilma

Bilma

Bilma is an oasis town in north east Niger with a population of around 2,500 people. It lies protected from the desert dunes under the Kaouar and is the largest town along the Kaouar escarpment....
.

In 1449, Agadez became a sultanate, while around 1500 it was conquered by the Songhai Empire

Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a pre-colonial African state of west Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest African empires in history....
. At this point, the city had a population of around 30,000 people and was a key passage for the medieval caravan

Camel train

A camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points....
s trading between the West African cities of Kano

Kano

Kano is the administrative center of the Kano State and the third largest city in Nigeria, in terms of geographical size, after Ibadan and Lagos....
and Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. It was made prosperous by Mansa Musa, tenth mansa of the Mali Empire....
and the North African oases of Ghat

Ghat

Ghat is a city in the Ghat District in remote south-western Libya....
, Ghadames

Ghadames

Ghadames is an oasis town in the west of Libya. It lies roughly 549 km in the southwest of Tripoli, near the borders with Algeria and Tunisia....
, and Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the largest and Capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million. The city is located in the northwest of the country on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay....
, on the Mediterranean shore. Decline set in after the Moroccan

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
invasion, and the population sank to less than 10,000.

The city was taken by the French

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
around 1900, who ruthlessly crushed a briefly successful rebellion

Kaocen Revolt

The Kaocen Revolt was a Tuareg rebellion against French colonial empires of the area around the A?r Mountains of northern Niger during 1916-17....
under Kaocen Ag Mohammed

Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen

Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen was a Tuareg noble and clan leader. Born in 1880 near Zinder , Kaocen became the Amenokal of the southern Ikazkazan Tuareg, a subset of the Kel Owey confederation....
in 1916. Later, Agadez became an important location in the Tuareg Rebellion

Tuareg Rebellion

The Tuareg Rebellion was an Rebellion by various Tuareg groups in Niger and Mali with the aim of achieving Autonomous entity or forming their own nation-state....
of the 1990s.

Tourist center

Today, Agadez flourishes as a market town

Market town

Market town or market right is a law term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host Market, distinguishing them from villages and city....
and as a centre for the transportation of the uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92....
mined in the surrounding area. Notable buildings in the city include the Agadez Grand Mosque, originally dating from 1515 but rebuilt in the same style in 1844, the Kaocen Palace (now a hotel

Hotel

----A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including Bathroom#Types of bathroomss and air conditioning or clima...
) and the Agadez Sultan's Palace. The city is also known for its camel

Camel

Camels are even-toed ungulates within the genus Camelus. The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and is well known for its healthy low fat milk, and the Bactrian camel has two humps....
market and its silver and leatherwork.

Airport

Agadez international airport was named after Mano Dayak

Mano Dayak

Mano Dayak was a Tuareg freedomfighter, leader, and negotiator. He led the Tuareg Rebellion in T?n?r? region, northern Niger during the 1990s. He was born in Tiden valley in the A?r mountains in 1949....
, the Tuareg leader who is native to the region.

2007 violence

See: Second Tuareg Rebellion
Due to the beginning of the Second Tuareg Rebellion, sporadic violence and a serious refugee crisis has gripped the Agadez area. All of northern Niger was placed on the United States State Department list of areas which are unsafe for travel by United States citizens, covering late 2007 to the end of 2008. Tourist flights are also suspended to Agadez from European airlines for the 2007–2008 tourist season (September - March). The burgeoning tourist industry, which prior to 2007 had surpassed that of the Niamey and the rest of the nation, was essentially ended. The entire Region was placed under a Niger government State of Exception (limiting travel, gatherings, political activities, etc.) in October 2007, renewed through early 2009. Roads to and from Agadez were reported to have been mined, and the Niger government closed the area to international journalists and aid organizations. An unknown number (reported as several thousands) of refugees converged on the city.

External links

Site covering Northern Niger. Photo Gallery by Michel Batlle "portraits de femmes touarègues"
of the Agadez region.
Site covering Agadez and Touareg culture.