In-Gall: Difference between revisions

|image_caption = View of Inin Gall, from the roof of a banco home.

|map_caption = Location of Inin Gall

|subdivision_name = [[{{flag|Niger]]}}

|subdivision_name2 = [[TchirozerineIn-Gall Department]]

|area_total_km2 =61171 <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversionhttp://citypopulation.de/en/niger/admin/-->

|population_as_of =2012-12-10

|population_total =51903

'''In-Gall''' (var. '''In Gall''', '''I-n-Gall''', '''In-Gal''', '''Ingal''', '''Ingall''') is a department, commune and town in the [[Agadez Region]], [[Tchirozerine Department]] of northeast [[Niger]], with a year-round population of less than 500. Known for its [[oasis]] and [[Salt pan (geology)|salt flats]], In-Gall is the gathering point for the [[Cure Salee]] festival of [[TauregTuareg people|Tuareg]] and [[Wodaabe]] pastoralists to celebrate the end of the rainy season each September. During the festival, InGallIn-Gall's population grows to several thousand nomads, officials, and tourists. As of 2011, the commune had a total population of 47,170 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat-niger.org/statistique/file/Annuaires_Statistiques/Annuaire_ins_2011/population.pdf|title=Annuaires_Statistiques|publisher=[[Institut National de la Statistique du Niger|Institut National de la Statistique]]|access-date=2 May 2013}}</ref>

InGallIn-Gall had been a stop on the main roads between the capital of Niger, [[Niamey]] (600&nbsp;km to the southwest), and the mining town of [[Arlit]] (200&nbsp;km to the northeast, 150&nbsp;km from the Algerian border) or the provincial capital [[Agadez]] (100&nbsp;km to the east). In the 1970s, the main road was repaved to transport [[uranium]] from the French-owned mines in [[Arlit]], but the new road bypassed InGallIn-Gall, ending its use as a [[wikt:way station|waystation]]. Since then, its population has dropped from almost 5,000 to less than 500.

During the Tuareg insurgency of the 1990s, InGallIn-Gall was a prime fortification of the Niger armed forces, and when peace was concluded in 2000 the old fort was reportedly abandoned.

<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_17/letters/nigerltr1.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=11 September 2006 |archive-date=12 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412123614/http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_17/letters/nigerltr1.html] |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<blockquote>"''InGall, an oasis town in a semi-desert zone that forms the gateway to the Sahara. InGall is a conglomeration of mud houses, whose gardens, in contrast to the barren landscape in which the town is set, are filled with fruit trees and vegetable patches.''"</blockquote> <ref>[http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,10325-1168679,00.html Iain Gately, ''Sunday Times'', 2004.]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The history, archeologyarchaeology, and culture of the In-Gall area has been extensively studied, most notably by the French anthropologist and archaeologist couple, Suzanne and Edmond Bernus.<ref>While the Bernus have written several works on the area, the most notable is the five volume ''La Région d'In Gall--TegiddaGall—Tegidda n Tesemt (Niger): programme archéologique d'urgence, 1977-19811977–1981.'' which indexed ancient burial mounds, trade routes, metal working, the first medieval Berber occupation sites, and the unique salt extraction economy which was fading after the construction of the paved highway in the 1970s. Prior to this they produced a single volume work: [[Edmond Bernus]] and [[Suzanne Bernus]]. Du sel et des dattes: introduction à l'étude de la communauté d'In Gall et de Tegidda-n-tesemt. Etudes Nigeriennes, 31. Niamey: Centre Nigérien de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, (1972).</ref>

In-Gall is not only a prominent Tuareg seasonal centercentre, to which certain clans return each year, but it has a history as a stop in the [[Trans-Saharan trade]], was aan westerneastern outpost of the [[Songhay Empire]] in the 16th century, was an important centercentre of the [[AirSultanate of Agadez|Aïr Sultanate]] thereafter, and became a French colonial fort in an often hostile region in the early 20th century.

Archaeological evidence shows the area as a centercentre of prehistoric populations dating back some eight thousand year to when it sat in the midst of a now dry [[Azawagh]] river valley, fed by the AirAïr Massif and flowing south to the [[Niger River]]. Of particular note have been thousands of pre-common era stone burial mounds which suggest a common culture in the area. Archeologists have also found in the In-Gall region many of the earliest mosques in Niger, dating back to early Berber occupations before 1000CE.<ref>Bernus, Suzanne, and Patrice Cressier. La région d'In Gall-Tegida N Tesemt (Niger): programme archéologique d'urgence, 1977-19811977–1981. IV, Azelik-Takadda et l'implantation sédentaire médiévale. Etudes nigériennes, 51. Niamey: Institut de recherches en sciences humaines, 1991.</ref>

In-Gall is intimately linked with the nearby salt industry at [[Teguidda-n-TessoumtTegguiada In Tessoum]], around 15&nbsp;km to the north. Teguidda, on the site of an ancient lake bed, floods as water washes down from the [[AirAïr Massif]] to the east each year, producing natural salt ponds. The population of In-Gall maintain and harvest from evaporation ponds here, sending laborerslabourers from the local clans to work the salt and transport it back to In-Gall at the end of the season. In-Gall is near enough that, unlike the oasis town of [[Fachi]] where plots are owned by [[Agadez]] -based Tuareg clans and worked by a permanent population, the workers at Teguidda return to In-Gall for the remainder of the year. Teguidda also lacks a stable oasis, which provides In-Gall with market gardens and date palm farming on a year -round basis. Prior to its decline in the 20th century—becausecentury — because of the smaller scale of the In-Gall salt markets as well as its easy access by road—Inroad — In-Gall was once a destination of the [[Azalai]] salt caravans, in which Tuareg merchants transported salt from the markets here across the [[Sahel]] for agricultural and medicinal uses.

==Uranium Miningmining==

In 2004, a Canadian corporation was granted a government license to mine for uranium in the area. Northwestern Mineral Ventures was awarded the Irhazer and Ingall concessions, each 2,000&nbsp;km². (772 square miles){{convert|2000|km2}} in size. Mines willwould reportedly be "open pit" strip mines.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060708035630/http://www.stockinterview.com/nwt.html http://www.stockinterview.com/nwt.html]</ref> More than 100 uranium exploration licenses have been granted intin the [[Azawagh]] area since 2004 to foreign firms from China (over 40%), Canada, and India.<ref> See the map on page 9 of this document: ftp://perso.numericable.fr/DOSSIER_TCHINAGHEN_AOUT2008.pdf{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Since 2007, a Chinese mining consortium, whose license covers an area north of In -Gall, has carried out infrastructural work for new uranium mine at [[Azelik]], some 85&nbsp;km north of Inin Gall, which includes extending roads from In -Gall to the site. Nigerien human rights, environmental and Tuareg groups have argued that mining activities in this region are a threat to scarce water resources, upon which pastoralists depend. The short rainy season in the [[Azawagh]] area north and west of In -Gall makes the region the northern destination for a cattle and camel herding [[transhumance]] cycle, which sees communities travel as far south as [[Burkina Faso]] during the dry months.<ref>http://www.sahara-sahel.com/articles/avenit/ave.html{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In-Gall is also famous to outsiders for its paleontologicalpalaeontological digs, most notably the [[Jobaria tiguidensis]], and the remains of petrified forests dating back 135 million years.<ref>See The Dinosaurs of InGall [http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/feature_12_03_2000_e.htm http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/feature_12_03_2000_e.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928072620/http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/feature_12_03_2000_e.htm |date=28 September 2006 }}</ref>

== References ==

* Abdoulkader Aghali, Koffi Kouassi. [http://www.lasdel.net/spip/IMG/pdf/198.pdf Observatoire de la décentralisation au Niger: N° 73 La commune d'In Gall]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (3, 2008). Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local, (LASDEL), Niamey. Retrieved 2009-03-16.

* Abdoulkader Aghali, Salekh Rhousseini. [http://www.lasdel.net/spip/IMG/pdf/172.pdf Observatoire de la décentralisation au Niger: N° 61 La commune d'In Gall]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (2, October 2007). Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherche sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local, (LASDEL), Niamey. Retrieved 2009-03-16.

* Samuel Decalo. Historical Dictionary of Niger. Scarecrow Press, London and New Jersey (1979). {{ISBN 0810812290|0-8108-1229-0}}

* [https://archive.today/20130115032446/http://intou.phost.be/page.php?ID=15 Niger: Intou.org]. Accessed 2009-03-27.

* Jolijn Geels. Niger. Bradt London and Globe Pequot New York (2006). {{ISBN 1841621528|1-84162-152-8}}.

* [http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/9_26_2000.htm description of the town during the [[Cure Salee]] festival of 2000.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908111934/http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/9_26_2000.htm |date=8 September 2006 }}

* [http://www.ingall-niger.free.frorg Ingall.free.fr]