1932 The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.
1960 Niger gains independence from France.
1989 A terrorist bomb explodes UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing 171.
1996 In a military coup Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.