Ouallam

Ouallam lies on the Zarmaganda plateau in the western Sahel, north of the Niger River. The area is one of the traditional homelands of the Zarma people, whose identity took shape there in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A route through the wider region connected the Niger country with the Aïr Mountains and was used by the Songhai Empire; Tuareg confederations later controlled parts of the area.

Farming and livestock keeping have long provided complementary livelihoods in the Sahel. Millet and sorghum grow in the surrounding agricultural country, while herders keep cattle and goats.