Niger, Or Qaorra, a river of western Africa, which falls into the gulf of Guinea by several mouths, between the bights of Benin and Bi-afra. The Niger is formed by two principal rivers, the Benoowe or Tchadda (see Benoowe) and the Joliba, the latter of which is the more western, and is regarded as the main stream.

It rises, according to Win wood Reade, in lat. 9° 25' N., lon. 10° 20' W., at an elevation of more than 1,300 ft. above the ocean, on the N. slope of Mt. Loma, in the Koranko country, about 200 m. from the coast of Sierra Leone. Thence it flows in a northeasterly direction, pursuing a very circuitous course throughout two fifths of its entire length, toward the Sahara. Near Cabra, the port of Timbuctoo, it turns E. and afterward S. E., and near the Kong mountains, in lat. 7° 47' N., lon. 7° 27' E., is joined by the Benoowe, from which point it flows S. by W. and finally S. W. till it falls into the ocean after a course of about 2,500 m. Down to a point about 40 m. distant from its supposed source, which has not yet been visited by any European, the river is known as the Teembo or Toombeenko; but below Farabana, in the Sangara country, it assumes the name Joliba, signifying great river, which is changed into Quorra in that part of its course below Timbuctoo. The upper portion of the Niger has not been thoroughly explored. At Farabana, the limit of exploration up to the present time, reached by Winwood Reade in 1869, the current of the river is swift, and about 100 yards wide.

A hundred miles further down, at Babbila, where the French traveller Caillié crossed in 1827, the breadth of the river is described by the English explorer as equal to that of the Thames at London. Here it is joined by the river Yanda from the south. From this point Winwood Reade navigated the main stream down to Nora, a large town near lat. ll0 N. There is but little navigation on this portion of the river, owing to the absence of large trees along its banks. Between Nora and Bammakoo the course of the Niger has not been traced, but from the latter place, in lat. 13° N., down to Timbuctoo, it is tolerably well known. The river is described as a broad and majestic stream flowing slowly eastward between low banks, and through a populous, fertile, and well cultivated country. In some parts it is studded with small green islands, many of which are inhabited. The banks are frequently flooded during the rainy season. On this portion of the river trade is carried on in boats of over 60 tons burden, worked without sails by large crews of natives. Not far from lat. 16° N. the Niger flows through Lake Debo, a distance of about 10 m. The extent of this lake westward from the river is believed to be much greater.

Above Timbuctoo the river separates into two branches, which unite a little further down. Cabra, the port of Timbuctoo, is situated on the N. branch. In this vicinity, according to Dr. Barth, the river overflows the surrounding country, and consequently the climate in the neighborhood of that city, during the season of the inundation, is very unhealthy. The middle portion of the Niger extends from Timbuctoo in a southeasterly direction to Yauri, described by Richard Lander as the largest city in central Africa, its walls enclosing a circumference of more than 20 m. In this part of its course, which must be nearly 1,000 m., its principal tributary is the Sackatoo or Rima river, which joins the main stream from the east near hit. 12 X. The town of Sackatoo is situated on this affluent. Amid the plains of Soodan the width of the Niger varies from 1 to 8 m., and the rate of its current from 5 to 8 m. an hour. Below Yauri it is 2 m. wide, and at Boossa, four days' journey further down, it is divided into three channels and obstructed by rapids. Thence to hit. 7° N. the Niger runs through a low valley in a mountainous country, and the banks are annually inundated, very fertile, and well peopled.

The mountains in many places approach both sides of the river, and the valley is nowhere very wide or thickly inhabited. At a distance of about 250 m. from the sea the Niger receives the waters of the Be-noowe or Tchadda, its greatest affluent, with a volume quite equal to its own above the junction. Near hit. 6° N. the united stream leaves the mountain region and enters an alluvial plain of forest, swamp, and jungle, where it divides into three large branches, the main outlet being the Nun, which flows into the gulf of Guinea near Cape Formosa. Another arm of the delta, extending at right angles with this is the Benin river; and the entire region between them and the sea is intersected by numerous small rivers, creeks, and lagoons. The Old Calabar river is the principal eastern branch of the delta. The oil-producing palm is an important product of this region. The area of the delta is estimated at 32,000 sq. m., and it is subject to an annual inundation, attaining its maximum height in August. It is one of the most unhealthy and pestilential tracts in the world. -The identity of the modern Niger with the Niger of Ptolemy and Strabo is now generally admitted.

Ptolemy describes its upper course with an approach to accuracy, but he believed that its waters were lost in the sands before reaching the sea. Pliny regarded it as an affluent of the Nile, while Leo Africanus believed that it rose near the sources of the Nile and flowed westward. When the Portuguese explored the W. coast of Africa they discovered the rivers Senegal, Gambia, and Grande, each of which in succession they supposed to be the Niger, and explored to its source in the hope of reaching Timbuctoo. Even after the real direction of the Niger began to be suspected, it was supposed for some time to be identical with the Congo river, and Mungo Park explored it with this idea. He was the first European traveller who reached the banks of the Niger in the upper part of its course. In his first journey (1796) he traced it for about 160m. from Bammakoodown to Silla. In his second journey (1805) he embarked upon its waters at Sego, between Bammakoo and Silla, and descended the stream to Boossa, where he was killed.

The loss of many of his papers deprived the world of the information which he had gathered, but the deficiency was subsequently partly supplied by Caillie, who sailed down the river from Jenne to Timbuctoo in 1828. In 1830 Richard and John Lander navigated the Niger from Yauri to the sea, and proved that it was not the Congo. The lower portion of the river was subsequently explored by English expeditions in 1832, 1834, and 1841. The last was a government expedition sent out for the suppression of the slave trade; an attempt was made to establish a model farm on the W. bank, opposite the mouth of the Be-noowe, but the effects of the climate were so fatal to the Europeans that after a short trial the undertaking was abandoned. In 1853 Timbuctoo was visited by the German traveller Barth, who in 1854 explored the valley of the river southward to the town of Say, in lat. 13° 8' S., lon. 2° 5' E. In 1869 Win-wood Reade succeeded in reaching the head waters of the Niger, not far from the source of the river, by a journey inland from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.