HuGeo Q2 3.3 Niger: Development Lecture with Questions

HuGeo Q2 3.3 Niger: The language of Development

Multiple Select

Niger's political geography. Click those that are true for Niger.

• It is a landlocked country: it has no border on or access to a sea or ocean.

• It is a Saharan country; much of its land is in the Sahara Desert.

Multiple Select

How much of the population lives in the southern part of Niger, and why?

• 95% of the population

• The roads are in the south; infrastructure.

• The northern part of Niger has ONE ROAD because it's mostly in the Sahara Desert.

• More infrastructure: 2 airports and a railway is being built in the south

Multiple Select

Niger has political borders, meaning that people made the borders; they are not defined by natural boundaries like rivers or mountains.

• In 1914, Niger did not exist as a country.

• Colonial powers from Europe took over most of Africa in the 1800s.

• The French and other colonial powers drew them for the benefit of themselves and not the Nigerean people.

Multiple Select

How inaccessible is most of Niger? (difficult or impossible to reach, approach, or understand : not accessible)

From Wikipedia: remote, dry desert, ONE TREE and then somebody killed it!

• The Tree of Ténéré was knocked down by a drunk truck driver in 1973.^[5] On November 8, 1973, the dead tree was moved to the Niger National Museum in the capital Niamey.^[4]

• A simple metal sculpture representing the tree stands where the tree once was. THE OLD, REAL TREE IS IN A MUSEUM.

Multiple Select

Physical geography

• The Sahara Desert has taken over much of Niger over the past 100 years (in a process called desertification)

• 80% of the Niger is made up from 2 huge deserts.

• One of the hottest countries in the world: the frying pan of the world

Multiple Select

Agriculture is the primary economic sector in Niger. Click on the boxes that describe farming in Niger.

• Only between 3%-18% is land for farming; most of Niger cannot be farmed because it is too dry.

• 80% of the workforce works in agriculture and subsistence farming

• Subsistence farmers mostly use hand tools. They grow good to feed themselves and their families.

• 80% of the population farms on about 3% of the land.

Multiple Select

Farming can also mean livestock grazing. Livestock grazing is possible in dry areas. Many of these people follow the herds, farming known as Nomadic pastoralism. Click on the photos where you see livestock and/or nomadic pastoralism.

Multiple Select

In which economic sector does 80% of Niger's people work? Click the boxes that show the sector.

• Primary sector

• Secondary sector

• Tertiary sector

Multiple Select

Niger's economy is based largely on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits.

Mining is in the primary economic sector. Click both boxes, they show how important mining the raw material of Uranium is to Niger.

• mineral exports = 40% of Niger's exports (how Niger makes money from other countries)

France gets rich off Niger's uranium, and Niger?

However, in contrast to France, Niger has not benefited. Niger has become the world’s fourth largest producer of uranium. Yet it has remained one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries, with almost half its 20 million population living below the poverty line. Niger's income is a tiny amount compared to the French mining company's income.

Multiple Select

Who makes the money from the Uranium mining in Niger? Click on the mines in Niger and the country that makes the money from the mines. Click on the boxes that inform about Niger's mining of uranium.

• France. France uses this uranium to generate nuclear power, some of which is sold on to other European countries. According to Oxfam, over one-third of all lamps in France light up thanks to uranium from Niger.

Multiple Select

The Nigerien government closed the gold fields in April of 2017, saying there were too many criminal gangs around. Click on the boxes that inform about gold mining in Niger.

• Criminal consortia (gangs) are defined as the intersection of politics, business and crime.

• This gold mine sector is much smaller than the uranium sector. It is easer to criminally capture it.

• These problems are multifaceted and complex, comprising both push and pull factors. (HuGeo recycles ideas and vocab, for the WIN)

Multiple Select

The government wants to reopen the gold mines to the public. There are a LOT of rumors that foreign companies are working to get the permits to open the mines. Read through these questions and click on them as you finish.

• Questions: should criminal gangs or foreign companies or local residents control the gold mines in Niger?

• Questions: can you trust the government, or is it just part of the criminal gangs?

• Questions: can the local people ever win in these situations?

• Questions: Is this unique to Niger? Think about Flint, Michigan. To save $, the govt switched to old, dirty pipes and the people got (and are still getting) sick. $$$$$

Multiple Select

More about those gold mines: What happens if the Niger government sells the mines to foreigners?

***Many people are already comparing the deals that allowed French and Chinese companies to own the uranium and oil businesses in Niger.*** Click all that are true.

• If a country does not move up economic sectors, they will remain poor.

• Foreign countries have been going to Africa to get raw materials and natural resources since the Industrial Revolution began.

• This is called exploitation, taking advantage of poor people and poor countries.

• Niger will be still in the primary economic sector and the foreign companies will make the money in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

Multiple Select

Demographics of Niger: these are all true.

• ethno-linguistic people groups: they speak different languages and have different histories

• each have their own customs and traditions

• 21 million people

Multiple Select

BIRTH RATE!!!! CBR!!!

Which boxes inform about Niger?

• Niger has the highest birth rate in the world.

• Niger has 45 births per 1000 people.

• Japan's birth rate is 7.

• Czechia's birth rate is 11.

Multiple Choice

Death Rate (CDR) crude death rate; which country has the lowest death rate?

• Niger 8

• Japan 11

• Czechia 10.6

Multiple Select

Natural increase rate: how fast or slow is a country's population growing? (from earlier in the week)

Click all that concern NIR.

• Birth rate - Death Rate = Natural increase rate

• Niger's birth rate 45 (high) minus Niger's death rate 8 (low) gives a Niger a Natural Increase Rate of 3.78%, the highest in the world.

• Niger's population is exploding, getting bigger at a fast rate.

On the next slide, you will see Niger's populaltion pyramid.

Study it carefully!

Multiple Select

By studying this population pyramid, what do you know about Niger?

• It has a high birth rate.

• It has a high child mortality rate: many children die before they are 5 years old.

• It has a low life expectancy rate: people die too young. 61.60 years (2017)

• Niger is a developing, it is a a lesser developed country (LDC), a third world country

More on demographics: data on people

Multiple Select

These are people from Niger. What can generally be said about people from Niger.

• They have black skin so their race is Black.

• They come from many different ethno-linguistic groups; they are different ethnicities with their own languages, cultures, customs, etc.

Multiple Select

Niger is a multi-ethnic country. Click all that apply to multi-culturalism.

• Many cultures

• Many languages

• Many histories and traditions

Religion in Niger is complex

Religious syncretism combines two or more religious belief systems into a blended religious system. In Niger, many ethnicities combine Islam and animistic (traditional) beliefs. Animism sees all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork—as animated and alive. These traditional belief systems often use Shamans to go between worlds.

Multiple Select

Niger is an Islamic country. However, it is their own kind of Islam. (People change institutions to fit their way of life.) Click all of these photos as they show the diversity of Niger.

• Alcohol is allowed.

• Women do not always wear hijabs.

Thank you for studying about Niger.

We will also study the Czech Republic like this. Fun, yes?