History of Niamey

The city of Niamey was developed by French colonists in Niger from a cluster of villages on the Niger River. These villages were settled around the early nineteenth century by Hausa, Songhai, and Zarma people on the river's left bank and Fula people on the right bank. A series of French expeditions invaded the area in the 1890s, with the first record of Niamey in 1897. Captain Henri Salaman established a French post on the plateau of the left bank in 1901. The territorial capital moved from Zinder to Niamey in 1903 but moved back in 1911 after debate among officials. Niamey did not see widespread development before becoming the capital again in 1926. Niamey then became Niger's main centre of economic development. The first urban plan in 1930 divided the city into European and indigenous areas. After a population increase caused by the 1931 Niger famine, further urban planning involved hygiene initiatives and relocation of existing settlements. The administration used forced labour for development until 1946, the same year Niger became an overseas territory of France.

Niamey held the first municipal elections in Niger in 1956, electing as mayor the pro-independence trade unionist Djibo Bakary. Niger gained independence in 1960, after which Niamey saw further development under President Hamani Diori, and urban plans ended racial segregation of neighbourhoods amid population growth. The opening of the Kennedy Bridge in 1970 enabled development on the right bank of the river. A boom in the uranium industry of Niger in the 1970s and 1980s brought economic and architectural growth to Niamey, alongside immigrants displaced by droughts. This led to a population increase and urban sprawl. Protests in Niamey following the 1990 Kennedy Bridge massacre contributed to the democratisation of Niger. The era of democratisation saw an economic decline in Niamey as well as an increase in private media and an Islamic revival. In the 1990s and 2000s, Niamey underwent reorganisation and decentralisation, followed by recentralisation in 2011. The 2010s saw urban development in Niamey including the Niamey Nyala project of President Mahamadou Issoufou.