Three months ago a group of Fulani and Tuareg men and women
met in a small village south of Maradi, Niger, for a festival of dancing and camel
racing.
**** Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases an hour+ YouTube video of a 2017 festival in Niger, West Africa.
Information about Niger is included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.people.
Thanks to all those who are associated with this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of ths video on YouTube.
**** INFORMATION ABOUT NIGER, WEST AFRICA From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger "Niger or the Niger … officially the Republic of the
Niger,[10][11] is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger
River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria
to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and
Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2
(490,000 sq mi), making it the largest country in West Africa. Over 80% of its
land area lies in the Sahara Desert. The country's predominantly Muslim
population of about 22 million[14][15] live mostly in clusters in the far south
and west of the country. The capital and largest city is Niamey, located in
Niger's southwest corner.
[…]
Ethnic groups
Niger has a wide variety of ethnic groups as in most West
African countries. The ethnic makeup of Niger in 2001 is as follows: Hausa
(55.4%), Zarma-Songhai (21%), Tuareg (9.3%), Fula (French: Peuls; Fula: Fulɓe)
(8.5%), Kanuri Manga (4.7%), Tubu (0.4%), Arab (0.4%), Gourmantche (0.4%),
other (0.1%).[101] The Zarma-Songhai dominate the Dosso, Tillabéri, and Niamey
régions, the Hausa dominate the Zinder, Maradi, and Tahoua regions, Kanuri
Manga dominate the Diffa region, and Touaregs dominate the Agadez region in
Northern Niger.[108]
Languages
French, inherited from the colonial period, is the official
language. It is spoken mainly as a second language by people who have received
a formal western education and serves as the administrative language. Niger has
been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1970.
Niger has ten recognized national languages, namely Arabic,
Buduma, Fulfulde, Gourmanchéma, Hausa, Kanuri, Zarma & Songhai, Tamasheq,
Tassawaq, Tebu.[1] Each is spoken as a first language primarily by the ethnic
group with which it is associated.[109][110] Hausa and Zarma-Songhai, the two
most spoken languages, are widely spoken throughout the country as first or
second languages.
Religion
Niger is a secular country and separation of state …Islam, widespread
in the region since the 10th century, has greatly shaped the culture and mores
of the people of Niger. Islam is the most dominant religion, practiced by 99.3%
of the population according to the 2012 census.[111]
The other two main religions of Niger are Christianity,
practiced by 0.3% of the population, and Animism (traditional indigenous
religious beliefs), practiced by 0.2% of the population.[111] Christianity was
established earlier in the country by missionaries during the French colonial
years. Other urban Christian expatriate communities from Europe and West Africa
are also present. Religious persecution is rare in Niger which is ranked last
(#50) on the World Watch List for severity of persecution that Christians face
for actively pursuing their faith.
[...] Islam
The majority of Muslims in Niger are Sunni, 7% are Shi'a, 5%
are Ahmadiyya and 20% non-denominational.[113][114] Islam was spread into what
is now 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. Tuareg expansion from the north,
culminating in their seizure of the far eastern oases from the Kanem-Bornu
Empire in the 17th centuries, spread distinctively Berber practices.
[...]
A small center of followers of Salafi movement within Sunni
Islam have appeared in the last thirty years, in the capital and in
Maradi.[115] These small groups, linked to similar groups in Jos, Nigeria, came
to public prominence in the 1990s during a series of religious
riots.[116][117][118]
Despite this, Niger maintains a tradition as a secular
state, protected by law.[119] Interfaith relations are deemed very good, and
the forms of Islam traditionally practiced in most of the country are marked by
tolerance of other faiths and lack of restrictions on personal freedom.[120]
Divorce and polygyny are unremarkable, women are not secluded, and head
coverings are not mandatory—they are often a rarity in urban areas.[121]
Alcohol, such as the locally produced Bière Niger, is sold openly in most of
the country.
[...]
Health
The child mortality rate in Niger (deaths among children
between the ages of 1 and 4) is high (248 per 1,000) due to generally poor
health conditions and inadequate nutrition for most of the country's children.
According to the organization Save the Children, Niger has the world's highest
infant mortality rate.[124]
Niger also has the highest fertility rate in the world (6.49
births per woman according to 2017 estimates[125]); this means that nearly half
(49%) of the Nigerien population is under age 15. Niger has the 11th highest
maternal mortality rate in the world at 820 deaths/100,000 live births.[126]
There were 3 physicians and 22 nurses per 100,000 persons in 2006.[127]
[...]
Until the 1990s, government and politics was inordinately dominated
by Niamey and the Zarma people of the surrounding region. At the same time the
plurality of the population, in the Hausa borderlands between Birni-N'Konni and
Maine-Soroa, have often looked culturally more to Hausaland in Nigeria than
Niamey. Between 1996 and 2003, primary school attendance was around 30%,[128]
including 36% of males and only 25% of females. Additional education occurs
through madrasas.
Media
Niger began developing diverse media in the late 1990s.
Prior to the Third Republic, Nigeriens only had access to tightly controlled
state media.[129] Now Niamey contains scores of newspapers and magazines; some,
like Le Sahel, are government operated, while many are critical of the
government.[130][131] Radio is the most important medium, as television sets
are beyond the buying power of many of the rural poor, and illiteracy prevents
print media from becoming a mass medium.[89]
In addition to the national and regional radio services of
the state broadcaster ORTN, there are four privately owned radio networks which
total more than 100 stations. Three of them—the Anfani Group, Sarounia and
Tenere—are urban-based commercial-format FM networks in the major towns.[132]
There is also a network of over 80 community radio stations spread across all
seven regions of the country, governed by the Comité de Pilotage de Radios de
Proximité (CPRP), a civil society organisation. The independent-sector radio
networks are collectively estimated by CPRP officials to cover some 7.6 million
people, or about 73% of the population (2005).
Aside from Nigerien radio stations, the BBC's
Hausa service is listened to on FM repeaters across wide parts of the country,
particularly in the south, close to the border with Nigeria. Radio France
Internationale also rebroadcasts in French through some of the commercial
stations, via satellite. Tenere FM also runs a national independent television
station of the same name.[132]"...
This pancocojams post provides an excerpt of a 2009 Stanford University pdf entitled "The Spread of Islam in West Africa: Containment, Mixing, and Reform from the Eighth to the Twentieth Century".
I share excerpts of online books and articles or difficult to find books as a means of alerting readers to these resources and encouraging people to read the entire article/books, if possible.
Information about Niger is included in this post as a preface to this pdf excerpt along with a YouTube sound file of what I believe is the correct way of pronouncing the West African nation name "Niger".
This post also includes a brief article about how the nation of "Niger" got its name.
The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT NIGER
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger
"Niger or the Niger.... officially the Republic of the Niger,.... is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest country in West Africa, with over 80 percent of its land area covered by the Sahara Desert. The country's predominantly Islamic population of about 21 million[12] is mostly clustered in the far south and west of the country. The capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger.
Niger is a developing country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI); it was ranked last at 188th for 2014.[6] Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials, especially uranium ore. Niger faces serious challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, inefficient agriculture, high fertility rates and resulting overpopulation without birth control,[13] poor education and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor health care, and environmental degradation.
Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its several ethnic groups and regions and their relatively short period living in a single state. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of several large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule. Following a military coup in 2010, Niger has become a democratic, multi-party state. A majority live in rural areas, and have little access to advanced education. 71.3% of the population cannot read as of 2015, one of the lowest literacy rates in the world."...
-snip-
[This portion revised October 7, 2017]
There are several YouTube sound files that claim to provide the correct pronunciation for the name of the West African nation of "Niger". Most of those sound files gives at least an approximation of an English language pronunciation for the nation name "Niger" that conforms to the pronunciation of the larger and more widely known nearby nation Nigeria. However, the second pronunciation that Wikipedia gives -which is also found on at least one YouTube sound file- is the French pronunciation of the name "Niger".
Since Niger was colonized by the French, and French is one of their national languages, I believe that pronunciation "nee-jer" (or similar forms) is the correct one. That French pronunciation of "Niger" is given in this YouTube sound file
How to Pronounce Niger - PronounceNames.com
Pronounce Names, Published on Jan 6, 2013
Audio and video pronunciation of Niger brought to you by Pronounce Names (http://www.PronounceNames.com), a website dedicated to helping people pronounce names correctly....
*Needless to say, the discussion threads of those YouTube sound files are full of racist "n word" comments, including stereotypical references to fried chicken...
Niger, officially Republic of Niger, French République du Niger, landlocked western African country. It is bounded on the northwest by Algeria, on the northeast by Libya, on the east by Chad, on the south by Nigeria and Benin, and on the west by Burkina Faso and Mali. The capital is Niamey. The country takes its name from the Niger River, which flows through the southwestern part of its territory. The name Niger derives in turn from the phrase gher n-gheren, meaning “river among rivers,” in the Tamashek language.
-snip-
It should be noted that the name of the more widely known West African nation of "Nigeria" also comes from the Niger river. However, the first syllable in the nation name "Nigeria" is pronounced "nigh", rhyming the word "high" and not "nee" ("knee") like the first syllable in the French pronunciation of the nation name "Niger".
****
PDF EXCERPT: https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Islam.pdf SPRING 2009
The Spread of Islam in West Africa: Containment, Mixing, and Reform from the Eighth to the Twentieth Century
"While the presence of Islam in West Africa dates back to eighth century, the spread of the faith in regions that are now the modern states of Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Nigeria, was in actuality, a gradual and complex process. Much of what we know about the early history of West Africa comes from medieval accounts written by Arab and North African geographers and historians.
Specialists have used several models to explain why Africans converted to Islam. Some emphasize economic motivations, others highlight the draw of Islam’s spiritual message, and a number stress the prestige
and influence of Arabic literacy in facilitating state building. While the motivations of early
conversions remain unclear, it is apparent that the early presence of Islam in West Africa was linked to trade and commerce with North Africa. Trade between West Africa and the Mediterranean predated Islam, however, North African Muslims intensified the Trans-Saharan trade. North African traders were major actors in introducing Islam into West Africa. Several major trade routes connected Africa below the Sahara with the Mediterranean Middle East, such as Sijilmasa to Awdaghust and Ghadames to Gao. The Sahel, the ecological transition zone between the Sahara desert and forest zone which spans the African continent, was an intense point of contact between North Africa and communities south of the Sahara. In West Africa, the three great medieval empires of Ghana, Mali, and the Songhay developed in Sahel.
The history of Islam in West Africa can be explained in three stages, containment, mixing, and reform. In the first stage, African kings contained Muslim influence by segregating Muslim communities, in the second stage African rulers blended Islam with local traditions as the population selectively appropriated
Islamic practices, and finally in the third stage, African Muslims pressed for reforms in an effort to rid their societies of mixed practices and implement Shariah. This three-phase framework helps sheds light on the historical development of the medieval empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay and the 19th century jihads that led to the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate in Hausaland and the Umarian state in Senegambia.
Containment: Ghana and the Takrur
The early presence of Islam was limited to segregated Muslim communities linked to the trans-Saharan trade. In the 11th century Andalusian geographer, Al-Bakri, reported accounts of Arab and North African Berber settlements in the region. Several factors led to the growth of the Muslim merchant-scholar class in non-Muslim kingdoms. Islam facilitated long distance trade by offering useful sets of tools for merchants including contract law, credit, and information networks. Muslim merchant-scholars also
played an important role in non-Muslim kingdoms as advisors and scribes in Ghana. They had the crucial skill of written script, which helped in the administration of kingdoms.
Many Muslim were also religious specialists whose amulets were prized by non-Muslims. Merchant-scholars also played a large role in the spread of Islam into the forest zones. These included the Jakhanke
merchant-scholars in [name region], the Jula merchants in Mali and the Ivory Coast, and the Hausa merchants during the nineteenth century in Nigeria, Ghana, and Guinea Basau,]. Muslim communities in the forest zones were minority communities often linked to trading diasporas. Many of the traditions in the forest zones still reflect the tradition of Al-Hajj Salim Suwari, a late fifteenth-century Soninke
scholar, who focused on responsibilities of Muslims in a non-Muslim society. His tradition, known as
the Suwarian tradition, discouraged proselytizing, believing that God would bring people around to Islam in his own ways. This tradition worked for centuries in the forest zone including the present day, where there are vibrant Muslim minority communities.
[...]
From the eighth to the thirteenth century, contact between Muslims and Africans increased and Muslim states began to emerge in the Sahel. Eventually, African kings began to allow Muslims to integrate. Accounts during the eleventh century reported a Muslim state called Takrur in the middle Senegal valley. Around this time, the Almoravid reform movement began in Western Sahara and expanded throughout modern Mauritania, North Africa and Southern Spain. The Almoravids imposed a fundamentalist version of Islam, in an attempt to purify beliefs and practices from syncretistic or heretical beliefs. The Almoravid movement imposed greater uniformity of practice and Islamic law among West African Muslims. The Almoravids captured trade routes and posts, leading to the weakening of the Takruri state. Over the next hundred years, the empire dissolved into a number of small kingdoms.
Mixing: The Empires of Mali and Songhay
Over the next few decades, African rulers began to adopt Islam while ruling over populations with diverse faiths and cultures. Many of these rulers blended Islam with traditional and local practices in what experts call the mixing phase. Over time, the population began to adopt Islam, often selectively appropriating aspects of the faith.
The Mali Empire (1215-1450) rose out of the region’s feuding kingdoms. At its height, the empire of Mali composed most of modern Mali, Senegal, parts of Mauritania and Guinea. It was a multi-ethnic state with various religious and cultural groups. Muslims played a prominent role in the court as counselors and advisors. While the empire’s founder, Sunjiata Keita, was not himself a Muslim, by 1300 Mali kings became Muslim. The most famous of them was Mansa Musa (1307-32). He made Islam the state religion and in 1324 went on pilgrimage from Mali to Mecca. Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca showed up in European records because of his display of wealth and lavish spending. Apparently, his spending devalued the price of gold in Egypt for several years. The famed 14th century traveler Ibn Battuta visited Mali shortly after Mansa Musa’s death. By the fifteenth century, however, Mali dissolved largely due to internal dissent and conflicts
with the Saharan Tuareg.
[...]
The Songhay state patronized Islamic institutions and sponsored public buildings, mosques and libraries. One notable example is the Great Mosque of Jenne, which was built in the 12th or 13th century. The Great Mosque of Jenne remains the largest earthen building in the world. By the 16th century there were several centers of trade and Islamic learning in the Niger Bend region, most notably the famed Timbuktu. Arab chroniclers tell us that the pastoral nomadic Tuareg founded Timbuktu as a trading outpost. The city’s multicultural population, regional trade, and Islamic scholarship fostered a cosmopolitan environment.
In 1325, the city’s population was around 10,000. At its apex, in the 16th century, the population is estimated to have been between 30,000 and 50,000. Timbuktu attracted scholars from throughout the Muslim world.
[...]
The Songhay’s major trading partners were the Merenid dynasty in the Maghrib (north-west Africa) and the
Mamluks in Egypt. The Songhay Empire ended when Morocco conquered the state in 1591. The fall of the
Songhay marked the decline of big empires in West Africa. Merchant scholars in Timbuktu and other major learning centers dispersed, transferring learning institutions from urban-based merchant families to rural pastoralists throughout the Sahara. During this period there was an alliance between scholars, who were also part of the merchant class, and some warriors who provided protection for trade caravans. Around the 12th and 13th century, mystical Sufi brotherhood orders began to spread in the region. Sufi orders played an integral role in the social order of African Muslim societies and the spread of Islam through the
region well into the 20th century.
Reform in the Nineteenth Century: Umarian Jihad in Senegambia and the Sokoto Caliphate in Hausaland
The 19th century jihad movements best exemplify the third phase in the development Islam in West Africa. Specialists have highlighted the ways in which literate Muslims became increasingly aware of Islamic doctrine and began to demand reforms during this period. This period was significant in that it marks a shift in Muslim communities that practiced Islam mixed with “pagan” rituals and practices to societies that completely adopted Islamic values and established Shariah.
[...]
In 1802, Uthman Dan Fodio, a Fulani scholar, led a major jihad. With the help of a large Fulani cavalry and Hausa peasants, Uthman Dan Fodio overthrew the region’s Hausa rulers and replaced them with Fulani emirs. The movement led to centralization of power in the Muslim community, education reforms, and transformations of law. Uthman Dan Fodio also sparked a literary revival with a production of religious work that included Arabic texts and vernacular written in Arabic script. His heirs continued the legacy of
literary production and education reform. Uthman Dan Fodio’s movement inspired a number of jihads in the region. A notable example was the jihad of al Hajj Umar Tal, a Tukulor from the Senegambia region. In
the 1850s, Umar Tal returned from pilgrimage claiming to have received spiritual authority over the West African Tijani Sufi order. From the 1850s to 1860s, he conquered three Bambara kingdoms. After Tal’s defeat by the French at Médine in 1857 and the subsequent defeat of his son in the 1880s, his followers fled westward spreading the influence of the Tijani order in Northern Nigeria. Although the French controlled the region, colonial authorities met another formidable enemy. Samori Toure rose up against
the French and gathered a 30,000 strong army. Following his death, French forces defeated Toure’s son in 1901. The French occupation of Senegal forced the final development of Islamic practice where leaders of Sufi orders became allies with colonial administrators.
Although European powers led to the decline of the Umarian state and the Sokoto Caliphate, colonial rule did little to stop the spread of Islam in West Africa. The British used anti-slavery rhetoric as they began their conquest of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1897. The Sokoto Caliphate ended in 1903, when British troops conquered the state. Colonial authorities attempted to maintain the established social order and ruled through Northern Nigerian emirs. Despite the efforts of colonial authorities, colonialism had far
reaching effects on Northern Nigerian Muslim society.
Modern communication and transportation infrastructure facilitated increased exchange between Muslim communities. As a result, Islam began to spread rapidly in new urban centers and regions such as Yoruba land. Similarly in the French Sudan, Islam actually spread in rates far greater than the previous centuries. Although Muslims lost political power, Muslim communities made rapid inroads in the West Africa during the early 20th century.
[...]
The legacy of the medieval empires and nineteenth century reform movements continues to have relevance in present day Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Nigeria*, as well as many neighboring communities. Muslim communities have existed in West Africa for over a millennium, pointing to
the fact that Islam is a significant part of the African landscape.
-snip-
Notice that "Nigeria" is mistakenly given two times in this sentence. Undoubtedly, one of these references was meant to be "Niger".
