Niger River Fleuve Niger (French) Joliba (Maninka) Jeliba (Bambara) Maayo Ɓaleewo 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤴𞤮 𞤄𞤢𞤤𞤫𞤮 (Fula) Egerew ⴻⴳⴻⵔⴻⵡ (Tamasheq) Issa Beri (Zarma) Kwara (Hausa) Toru Beni (Ijo languages) Ọya (Yoruba) Óshimiri/ Oshimili (Igbo)
The Pont Kennedy across the Niger at Niamey, early 2019
Etymology	Unknown (possibly from Berber for River Gher or local Tuareg word n-igereouen meaning "big rivers")[1]
Location
Countries	Guinea Mali Niger Benin Nigeria
Cities	Tembakounda Bamako Timbuktu Niamey Lokoja Onitsha
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Guinea Highlands, Guinea-Conakry
• coordinates	09°05′50″N 10°40′58″W / 9.09722°N 10.68278°W / 9.09722; -10.68278
• elevation	850 m (2,790 ft)
Mouth	Atlantic Ocean
• location	Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria
• coordinates	5°19′20″N 6°28′9″E / 5.32222°N 6.46917°E / 5.32222; 6.46917
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	4,200 km (2,600 mi)[2]
Basin size	2,117,700 km2 (817,600 sq mi) to 2,273,946 km2 (877,975 sq mi)[3]
Width
• average	1.24 km (0.77 mi) to 1.73 km (1.07 mi) (Lokoja)[4]
Depth
• maximum	37 m (121 ft) (Lokoja)[4]
Discharge
• location	Niger Delta[5][6]
• average	(Period: 2010–2018)270.5 km3/a (8,570 m3/s)[7] (Period: 1971–2000)7,922.3 m3/s (279,770 cu ft/s)[8] (6,925 m3/s (244,600 cu ft/s)[6] to 250 km3/a (1.9 cu mi/Ms)[2])
• minimum	1,200 m3/s (42,000 cu ft/s)
• maximum	35,000 m3/s (1,200,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge
• location	Onitsha
• average	(Period: 1971–2000)6,470.8 m3/s (228,510 cu ft/s)[8]
Discharge
• location	Lokoja
• average	(Period: 2000/06/01–2023/05/31)6,696 m3/s (236,500 cu ft/s)[9] (Period: 1971–2000)5,754.7 m3/s (203,230 cu ft/s)[8]
• minimum	(Period: 2000/06/01–2023/05/31)1,864 m3/s (65,800 cu ft/s)[9] 500 m3/s (18,000 cu ft/s)[10]
• maximum	(Period: 2000/06/01–2023/05/31)21,800 m3/s (770,000 cu ft/s)[9] 27,600 m3/s (970,000 cu ft/s)[10] (04/10/2022: 33,136 m3/s (1,170,200 cu ft/s)[9]
Discharge
• location	Niamey
• average	(Period: 2000/06/01–2023/05/31)964 m3/s (34,000 cu ft/s)[9] (Period: 1971–2000)737.7 m3/s (26,050 cu ft/s)[8]
• minimum	(Period: 2000/06/01–2023/05/31)60 m3/s (2,100 cu ft/s)[9]
• maximum	(Period: 2000/06/01–2023/05/31)1,994 m3/s (70,400 cu ft/s)[9]
Discharge
• location	Bamako
• average	(Period: 1971–2000)1,091.7 m3/s (38,550 cu ft/s)[8]
Basin features
River system	Niger River
Tributaries
• left	Tinkisso, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gurara, Benue, Anambra
• right	Niandan, Milo, Sankarani, Bani, Gorouol, Sirba, Mékrou, Alibori, Sota, Oli, Orashi, Warri

The Niger River (/ˈnaɪdʒər/ NY-jər; French: (le) fleuve Niger [(lə) flœv niʒɛʁ]) is the main river of West Africa, extending about 4,180 kilometres (2,600 miles). Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 km² (817,600 sq mi) in area.^[11] Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border.^[12][13] It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta,^[14] into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded by the Nile and the Congo River. Its main tributary is the Benue River.

Etymology

The Niger has different names in the different languages of the region:

• Fula: Maayo Jaaliba 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤴𞤮 𞤔𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭𞤦𞤢
• Manding: Jeliba ߖߋ߬ߟߌߓߊ߬ or Joliba ߖߏ߬ߟߌߓߊ߬ "great river"
• Tuareg: Eġərəw n-Igərǝwăn ⴴⵔⵓ ⵏ ⴴⵔⵓⵏ "river of rivers"
• Songhay: Isa "the river"
• Zarma: Isa Beeri "great river"^[15]
• Hausa: Kwara كوَرَ
• Nupe: Èdù
• Yoruba: Ọya "named after the Yoruba goddess Ọya, who is believed to embody the river"
• Igbo: Orimiri or Orimili "great water"
• Ijaw: Toru Beni "the river water"

The earliest use of the name "Niger" for the river is by Leo Africanus^[16] in his Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili che ivi sono, published in Italian in 1550.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, "Nigris" was already the name of a river in West Africa, as mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Solinus, among others.^[17] Whether this river was the same as the actual Niger, or rather the river also known as Ger (currently known as Oued Guir, in Morocco), is a matter of discussion. This Nigris was said to divide "Africa proper" from the land of the (Western) Ethiopians to the south, and its name (as well as that of the river Ger) might well come from the Berber phrase gr-n-grwn meaning "river of rivers", as the current Tuareg name for the river Niger.^[18] As Timbuktu was the southern end of the principal Trans-Saharan trade route to the western Mediterranean, it was the source of most European knowledge of the region.

Medieval European maps applied the name Niger to the middle reaches of the river, in modern Mali, but Quorra (Kworra) to the lower reaches in modern Nigeria, as these were not recognized at the time as being the same river.^[16] When European colonial powers began to send ships along the west coast of Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Senegal River was often postulated to be the seaward end of the Niger. The Niger Delta, pouring into the Atlantic through mangrove swamps and thousands of distributaries along more than 160 kilometres (100 mi), was thought to be coastal wetlands. It was only with the 18th-century visits of Mungo Park, who travelled down the Niger River and visited the great Sahelian empires of his day, that Europeans correctly identified the course of the Niger and extended the name to its entire course.

The modern nations of Nigeria and Niger take their names from the river, marking contesting national claims by colonial powers of the "upper", "lower" and "middle" Niger river basin during the Scramble for Africa at the end of the 19th century.

Climate

As part of the West Africa Sahel region, Niger river has a hot climate characterized by very high temperatures year-round; a long, intense dry season from October–May; and a brief, irregular rainy season linked to the West African monsoon.^[19]

Geography

The Niger River is a relatively clear river, carrying only a tenth as much sediment as the Nile because the Niger's headwaters lie in ancient rocks that provide little silt.^[20] Like the Nile, the Niger floods yearly; this begins in September, peaks in November, and finishes by May.^[20] An unusual feature of the river is the Inner Niger Delta, which forms where its gradient suddenly decreases.^[20] The result is a region of braided streams, marshes, and large lakes; the seasonal floods make the Delta extremely productive for both fishing and agriculture.^[21]

The river loses nearly two-thirds of its potential flow in the Inner Delta between Ségou and Timbuktu to seepage and evaporation. The water from the Bani River, which flows into the Delta at Mopti, does not compensate for the losses. The average loss is estimated at 31 km³/year but varies considerably between years.^[3] The river is then joined by various tributaries but also loses more water to evaporation. The quantity of water entering Nigeria was estimated at 25 km³/year before the 1980s and at 13.5 km³/year during the 1980s.

The most important tributary is the Benue River which merges with the Niger at Lokoja in Nigeria. The total volume of tributaries in Nigeria is six times higher than the inflow into Nigeria, with a flow near the mouth of the river standing at 177.0 km³/year before the 1980s and 147.3 km³/year during the 1980s.^[3]

Course

The Niger takes one of the most unusual routes of any major river, a boomerang shape that baffled geographers for two centuries. Its source (Tembakounda) is 240 km (150 mi) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, but the river runs directly away from the sea into the Sahara Desert, then takes a sharp right turn near the ancient city of Timbuktu and heads southeast to the Gulf of Guinea. This strange geography apparently came about because the Niger River is two ancient rivers joined together. The upper Niger, from the source west of Timbuktu to the bend in the current river near Timbuktu, once emptied into a now dry lake to the east northeast of Timbuktu, while the lower Niger started to the south of Timbuktu and flowed south into the Gulf of Guinea. Over time upstream erosion by the lower Niger resulted in stream capture of the upper Niger by the lower Niger.^[22]

The northern part of the river, known as the Niger bend, is an important area because it is the major river and source of water in that part of the Sahara. This made it the focal point of trade across the western Sahara and the centre of the Sahelian kingdoms of Mali and Gao. The surrounding Niger River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the Sudan province, which in turn is part of the larger African massive physiographic division.

Drainage basin

The Niger River basin, located in western Africa, covers 7.5% of the continent and spreads over ten countries.

Niger River basin: areas and rainfall by country^[3]

Country	Area of the country within the basin		Average rainfall in the basin (mm)
	(km2)	(%)
Algeria	193,449	8.5	20
Benin	46,384	2.0	1,055
Burkina Faso	76,621	3.4	655
Cameroon	89,249	3.9	1,330
Chad	20,339	0.9	975
Côte d'Ivoire	23,770	1.0	1,466
Guinea	96,880	4.3	1,635
Mali	578,850	25.5	440
Niger	564,211	24.8	280
Nigeria	584,193	25.7	1,185
For Niger basin	2,273,946	100.0	690

Hydrometric stations on the Niger River^{[23][8][24][2]}

Discharge

Average, minimum and maximum discharge of the Niger River at Koulikoro (Upper Niger), Niamey (Middle Niger) and Lokoja (Lower Niger). Period from 2000/06/01 to 2023/05/31.^[9][25][26]