Dogondoutchi
Encyclopedia
Dogondoutchi is a city located in the east of the Dosso Region of 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...
. With a population of 29,244 (2001 census), Dogondoutchi is the largest city in and administrative center of the Dogondoutchi department
Dogondoutchi Department
Dogondoutchi is a department of the Dosso Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Dogondoutchi....
, the easternmost section of Dosso Region.
Situation
Sitting just north of the Niger/NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
border, Dogondoutchi is a majority Hausa town on the northern edge of the savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
zone, south of the 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....
. The area is dominated by small scale agriculture, mostly Millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
farming, sedentary cattle raising, and seasonal grazing of longhorned cattle, mostly by nomadic Fula
Fula 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...
pastoralists and their semi-nomadic villages. The town itself is dominated by the large "Dogon Doutchi" Mesa
Mesa
A mesa or table mountain is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
, which looms over the eastern side of the town.
Religious culture
Dogondoutchi is best known as a cultural capital of the ArewaArewa
Arewa is a Hausa language term meaning "northern" or "northerners". Its popular usage in contemporary Nigeria sometimes suggests a northern Nigerian regionalism or proto-nationalism...
region, an area of rough topography that is the home of the Mawri subgroup of the Hausa people
Hausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
. The Mawri around Dogondoutchi are among the last Animist Hausa populations, and the region is a center for Niger's animist Hausa minority group. The town itself is majority Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, as is most of Niger and the Hausa ethnic group. Dogondoutchi is also a center for gatherings of the Bori
Bori
Bori is a town and arrondissement located in the N’Dali commune of the Borgou Department of Benin....
spirit possession ritual, which has been extensively studies by Western Anthropologists. The nearby village of Lougou
Lougou
Lougou is a town and arrondissement in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Ségbana. According to the population census conducted by the Institut National de la Statistique Benin on February 15, 2002, the...
was the site of the 1899 Battle of Lougou
Battle of Lougou
The French Voulet-Chanoine Mission, led by the captains Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine, had been dispatched in 1898 to Africa by the French government with the mission to conquer the territories between the Niger River and Lake Chad and join in uniting French territories in West Africa...
between French forces and Sarraounia
Sarraounia
Sarraounia was a Queen of the African Azna people, who ruled in a region of Western Africa during the late 19th century.She was ruler of an animist group of Eastern Hausa. Queen Sarraounia of the Aznas fought the French colonial troops in 1899...
, a traditional religious leader based just outside modern Dogondoutchi.
Cultural border
Dogondoutchi also is the common western border of the Nigerien Hausa population, who form a majority of the population in an arc stretching from this area towards the east all the way to ZinderZinder
Zinder is the second largest city in Niger, with a population of 170,574 by 2005 was estimated to be over 200,000...
. To the west of here, the Djerma people form the dominant sedentary population in Niger, while farther north, Dogondoutchi marks the rough boundary between the Wodaabe
Wodaabe
The Wodaabe or Bororo are a small subgroup of the Fulani ethnic group. They are traditionally nomadic cattle-herders and traders in the Sahel, with migrations stretching from southern Niger, through northern Nigeria, northeastern Cameroon, and the western region of the Central African Republic....
(Central-Eastern Niger) Fula people
Fula 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...
and the Dallol and Bitinkoore Fulfulde dialect speaking Fula people of the west.
Trade and transport center
Dogondoutchi town is a vibrant trade center, sitting astride the intersection of routes to Nigeria less than 20km to the south, and the main Nigerien east - west highway, RN1Route nationale 1 (Niger)
The Route nationale no. 1 is an important highway in the African country of Niger. It connects the east part of the country to the west. RN1 runs approximately from Niamey in the west to N'Guigmi in the east, via Dosso, Maradi, Zinder, and Diffa. The first large paved section, between Gouré and...
, which connects Niamey and the west of the country with Maradi, Zinder, and Diffa
Diffa
Diffa is a city and Urban Commune in the extreme southeast of Niger, near that country's border with Nigeria, with a population of 23,600 . It is the administrative seat of both Diffa Region, and the smaller Diffa Department...
in the east. After Dogodoutchi, the RN1 meets Niger's main north - south road, the RN25 heading to Tahoua
Tahoua
Tahoua is a city in Niger and the administrative center of the Department of Tahoua and the larger Tahoua Region. It has a population of 99,900 . The city is primarily a market town for the surrounding agricultural area, and a meeting place for the Tuareg people from the north and the Fulani people...
, Agadez
Agadez
-Sources:* Aboubacar Adamou. "Agadez et sa région. Contribution à l'étude du Sahel et du Sahara nigériens", Études nigériennes, n°44, , 358 p.* Julien Brachet. Migrations transsahariennes. Vers un désert cosmopolite et morcelé . Paris: Le Croquant, , 324 p. ISBN : 978-2-91496865-2.*. Saudi Aaramco...
and Arlit
Arlit
Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with Algeria...
in the north.