Agadez

Agadez, standing at the southern gateway to the Sahara in central Niger, is a historic Tuareg caravan city and a UNESCO World Heritage site, long a vital crossroads of trans-Saharan trade in salt, gold and dates. Its old town of earthen houses and winding sandy lanes is crowned by the extraordinary Great Mosque, whose towering mud-brick minaret, over twenty-seven metres high and bristling with wooden beams, is one of the tallest earthen structures in the world and the emblem of the city. Famous for its Tuareg silverwork, leather and the celebrated Agadez cross, and set amid the desert, it is a place of deep Saharan character and heritage.

History

Agadez was founded before the 14th century and, growing on the trans-Saharan trade, became the chief city of the Tuareg, overtaking Assodé; caravans still bring salt from Bilma. It became a sultanate in 1449, was conquered by the Songhai Empire in 1515 and stayed part of it until 1591, with some 30,000 people, a key stop for caravans between Kano and Timbuktu and the oases of Ghat, Ghadames and Tripoli; its Grand Mosque dates from 1515 and was rebuilt in the same style in 1844. Internal fighting brought slow decline, and by the mid-19th century the town was a shadow of itself. The French ruled it from 1906 and defeated the rising of Kaocen Ag Mohammed in 1916; during the Second Tuareg Rebellion, from late 2007 into 2009, violence and displacement struck the area and ended a tourist trade that had outgrown Niamey's, and in the 2010s Agadez became the main transit town for migrants crossing the Sahara to Libya. Its historic centre is a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Agadez).

What's there

• The Great Mosque - the towering earthen minaret, emblem of the city.
• The old town - the mud-brick houses and sandy lanes.
• The Tuareg crafts - the famous silverwork and Agadez cross.
• The desert market - the historic caravan crossroads.

When to go

November to February, the cool dry season, is the most comfortable time in this Saharan city, avoiding the fierce heat; the mild winter is ideal for exploring the old town, mosque and markets. The earthen minaret glows beautifully against the desert sky in the low morning and evening light.

Good to know

Agadez lies deep in the desert of central Niger and takes real effort to reach, and the mosque's interior is generally reserved for worshippers, so visitors admire its remarkable minaret from below. As a UNESCO World Heritage caravan city with one of the tallest earthen minarets on earth and rich Tuareg heritage, though, Agadez is a genuinely evocative gateway to the Sahara.

Nearby

The Aïr Mountains and the Ténéré desert lie beyond the city.

Key facts