Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. It is in the western part of the country, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the river's left bank (east side). The capital of Niger since the colonial era, Niamey is an ethnically diverse city and the country's main economic centre.
Before the French developed it as a colonial centre, Niamey was the site of villages inhabited by Fula, Zarma, Maouri, and Songhai people. French expeditions first visited the location in the 1890s before Captain established a military post in 1901. Niamey replaced Zinder as the territorial capital from 1903 to 1911 and again in 1926, after which large-scale development occurred. The first city plan in 1930 relocated neighbourhoods and enacted segregation of European and indigenous neighbourhoods, which remained separate until the 1950s. Niamey held Niger's first municipal elections in 1956, electing Djibo Bakary as the first mayor. In the decade following independence in 1960, urban planning introduced infrastructure such as the Kennedy Bridge, which connected the city to the right bank. In the 1970s and 1980s, Niamey's growth was fuelled by a boom in the national uranium industry and by droughts that brought rural migrants. Protests in Niamey contributed to the democratisation of Niger in the 1990s. This era saw an Islamic revival.
Niamey has a dense city centre and includes some villages in the periphery. Due to rapid population growth, the city has many informal settlements, allocated semi-legally from chiefs of traditional governments, which are often excluded from public utilities. The city's economy is dominated by commerce, largely in the informal economy. The city also has extensive urban agriculture. Alongside the Zarma people, Niamey has a large Hausa population, who often seasonally migrate from rural Niger. Both groups' languages are used as lingua francas. Most of the population follows Islam—including the Tariqa movement of Sufism and the newer Izala movement of Salafism—with a Christian minority. Niamey is one of the hottest major cities in the world. It is prone to droughts and floods. The Niger River is the city's only permanent river and the sole source of its municipal water supply.
Niamey comprises the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), a first-level division of Niger, led by the Governor of Niamey. It is divided into five communes: Niamey I, II, III, and IV on the left bank, and V on the right bank. The city also has a municipal government, though it was dissolved in 2024. Transportation links include Diori Hamani International Airport, highways including RN1, and the unused Niamey railway station. Niamey is home to Abdou Moumouni University, Niger's most important university, and Niamey National Hospital, the country's largest referral hospital.
History
Background and foundation
The area of modern Niamey was of little importance before Niger's colonial era. As the Sahelian kingdoms fought for control over the Sahel, the Niamey area was a buffer zone that was not urbanised. Late-sixteenth-century residents of this area included the Zarma and other Songhai refugees from the Moroccan invasion of the Songhai Empire, Hausa-speaking Maouri hunters who migrated westward from the Dogondoutchi area, and the regionally dominant Fula people. These ethnic groups comprise the population of modern Niamey.
The villages of and were founded on the left bank (east side) of the Niger River in the sixteenth century. The site that would become Niamey was situated between these villages, around the gully of . Various other villages sprouted here around the early nineteenth century; the Hausa village of , the Zarma village of , and the Songhai village of were on the left bank, while the Fula villages of , , and were on the right bank.
Oral histories differ on the chronology of Niamey's early settlement and the etymology of its name. The Maouri believe that the city's Maouri founders were driven away from the nearby river island of by the Fula villagers of Bitinkodji; they say the city was built next to a landmark tree called