Djado is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

located in the department of

Bilma Bilma is an oasis town and commune in north east Niger with, as of the 2012 census, a total population of 4,016 people. It lies protected from the desert dunes under the Kaouar Cliffs and is the largest town along the Kaouar escarpment. It ...

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. The settlement lies on the plateau with the same name. The settlement likely was not called Djado during its existence. The site is quite remote. No excavation has been done, so the real name of the settlement is unknown.

Geography

The former Djado is located in an oasis, in the northeastern part of Ténéré Desert. The Ténéré Desert is considered part of the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. It is located on the southeastern end of the Djado plateau. For the administration, there's also a modern-day commune called Djado. The modern-day commune also comprises the Menfueni plateau and the Thchigai plateau. Modern-day Djado is the northernmost and easternmost commune in Niger. To the north, it borders Algeria and Libya, to the east, it lies on the border to Tchad. Neighboing communes in Niger are

Dirkou Dirkou is a town in the Bilma Department, Agadez Region of north-eastern Niger. It lies in the northern Kaouar escarpment, a north–south line of cliffs which form an isolated oasis in the Sahara desert. As of 2011, the commune had a total po ...

to the south,

Fachi Fachi is an oasis surrounded by the Ténéré desert and the dunes of the Erg of Bilma in eastern Niger, placed on the western edge of the small Agram mountain outcropping. It has a population of 2,215 people (2012). It is also a stopping poi ...

to the southeast, and Iférouane to the west. There are three villages in the commune: Chirfa,

Séguédine Séguédine is a town in central eastern Niger, lying at the far northern tip of the Kaouar escarpment, an inhabited oasis in the midst of the Sahara Desert. It is a Commune of Bilma Department, Agadez Region. While isolated in modern Niger, i ...

and Yaba. In addition, there are the nomad camps of Djado and Tchounouk, as well as military camps. The main settlement is the village Chirfa. The ruins of Djado are on top of rocky cliffs. At the bottom of these cliffs are subterranean

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

s, which also serve as an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Depending on the season, some of these ponds almost dry up completely. From the cliffs, the Kaouar valley can be reached. There is a desert made of pebbles to the west. Beyond them lie the

Aïr Mountains The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif (Air Tamajeq language, Tamajăq: ''Ayǝr''; Hausa language, Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Sa ...

History

According to the tradition of the local Kanuri, the Sao founded Djado. They also founded other places, such as Tedjerhe in southern

Fezzan Fezzan ( , ; ; ; ) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise in ...

. Tedjerje is the oldest known settlement of the Kaouar. It was the most important city culture of the Kotoko south of Lake Tchad. The ruins look like those of a city. Their modern-day name links them to Djado in Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli. These two characteristics seem to point to a people that was

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, but the current population of the region is mostly

nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

ic. Djado was part of the kingdom of Sayfema of Kanem-Bornu at least since the reign of Dunama Dibalemi (1203–1243). For part of the time, they were independent, but they re-joined the empire of Idris Alauma (1564–1596). Idris Alauma moved through the desert, from

, south of Djado. As the power of the Bomu empire decreased, the people of the oasis were exposed to several raids of the Touareg, in the 18th and 19th century. They started to leave the place, and settled in Kaouar. Another reason might be that cattle herding in the region also introduced mosquitoes that spread

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. In 1860, about 1000 Kanuri are said to have been left. In the middle of the 20th century, only a few Kanuri and

Toubou The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. They live either as her ...

were left. They mostly lived from growing

dates Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activit ...

, and harvesting

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

The military outpost

Madama Madama is a border settlement on the northeast frontier of Niger. Little more than an army post, the settlement serves as a frontier station controlling travel between Niger and Libya. It is also the site of a former French colonial empire, Fr ...

was created in 1930, when Niger was a French colony. In 1988. Rallye Dakar passed through Djado. In 2014, gold was discovered, which attracted up to 20,000 people from Niger, Chad,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. Because there were many heavily-armed foreigners, and working conditions were very bad, Moussa Hassane Barazé, the responsible minister for mining operations, ordered the mines to be closed in 2017.

Population

In 2012, 876 people lived in the commune, in 168 households. In 2001, there were 936 people in 202 households. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:500 height:auto barincrement:42 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:20 top:5 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:16 shift:(-100,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:2001 from:0 till:936 text:936 Residents bar:2012 from:0 till:876 text:876 Residents In the main village, there were 2088 people in 63 households, in the 2012 census; In 2001, there were 208 people in 45 households, and in 1998, 260 people in 74 households. When it comes to harvesting, there are Tubu the area near the ghost town. In the eastern part of the commune,

Tedaga The Teda language, also known as Tedaga, Todaga, Todga, or Tudaga is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Teda, a northern subgroup of the Toubou people who inhabit southern Libya, northern Chad and eastern Niger. A small number also inhabit nor ...

and Libyan Arabic are spoken. On the Algerian border, Tahaggart, a

Tuareg language Tuareg (), also known as ''Tamasheq'' (), ''Tamajaq'' or ''Tamahaq'' ( Tifinagh: ), is a group of closely related Berber varieties. They are spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso, with a fe ...

, is common.

Books

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References

{{coord, 21, 00, 57, N, 12, 18, 30, E, display=title, region:NE_type:city Former populated places in Niger Ghost towns in Africa Archaeological sites in Niger Agadez Region