a river in north-western Africa, which rises on the north-eastern border of Sierra Leone and flows in a great arc for 4,100 km (2,550 miles) north-east to Mali, then south-east through western Niger and Nigeria, before turning southwards into the Gulf of Guinea

a landlocked country in West Africa, on the southern edge of the Sahara; population 19,900,000 (estimated 2015): languages, French (official), Hausa, and other West African languages: capital, Niamey. Part of French West Africa from 1922, Niger became an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958 and fully independent in 1960