Ouallam
Encyclopedia
Ouallam is a town in southwestern Niger
. It is around 300 km north of Niamey
, is the capital of Ouallam Department
, one of four in the Tillabery Region.
s. It is the main town of the rocky Sahel
highlands called the Zarmaganda plateau, and is one of the traditional homes of the Djerma people and one of the places win which they coalesced as an ethnicity in the 15th and 16th centuries. The area had been along an important trade route to the Air Mountains
, used by the Songhay Empire, and was later controlled by a series of Tuareg confederations.
, is situated in an agricultural region which, although dryer than areas further south and west, is a center for livestock (cattle—both sedentary and semi-nomadic, goats), as well as grain agriculture (millet and sorghum). A market center, the town is also home to an agricultural research center of the INRAN (Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques du Niger -- the National Institute of Agricultural Research, Niger.)
Niger
Niger , officially named 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...
. It is around 300 km north of Niamey
Niamey
-Population:While Niamey's population has grown steadily since independence, the droughts of the early 1970s and 1980s, along with the economic crisis of the early 1980s, have propelled an exodus of rural inhabitants to Niger's largest city...
, is the capital of Ouallam Department
Ouallam Department
Ouallam is a department of the Tillabéri Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Oullam, which is designated an Urban Commune. The department also includes the Rural Communes of Simiri and Tondikiwindi, as well as the towns of Bani Bangou and Dingazi....
, one of four in the Tillabery Region.
Culture
Historically a centered in the lands of the Djerma people, Ouallam has important minorities of rural and urban Tuareg and Fula peopleFula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
s. It is the main town of the rocky Sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
highlands called the Zarmaganda plateau, and is one of the traditional homes of the Djerma people and one of the places win which they coalesced as an ethnicity in the 15th and 16th centuries. The area had been along an important trade route to the Air Mountains
Aïr Mountains
The Aïr Mountains is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara desert...
, used by the Songhay Empire, and was later controlled by a series of Tuareg confederations.
Agricultural center
Ouallam, on a main road to NiameyNiamey
-Population:While Niamey's population has grown steadily since independence, the droughts of the early 1970s and 1980s, along with the economic crisis of the early 1980s, have propelled an exodus of rural inhabitants to Niger's largest city...
, is situated in an agricultural region which, although dryer than areas further south and west, is a center for livestock (cattle—both sedentary and semi-nomadic, goats), as well as grain agriculture (millet and sorghum). A market center, the town is also home to an agricultural research center of the INRAN (Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques du Niger -- the National Institute of Agricultural Research, Niger.)