Here is part of the Sahara Desert's southern 'shore'--sahel in Arabic, where agriculture precariously begins. In the north of two of the prefectures is harsh desert: sand dunes in northern Tahoua and northeastern Zinder, and highlands in the rest of northern Zinder including the Massif of Termit. Fossil river valleys flow southward from these highlands and those in nearby departments.
About seven in eight speak Hausa, a Chadic, language. Fulfulde, the Atlantic language spoken by the Fulani, is next most spoken--by about one in twelve. And about twenty speak Tamasheq, the Berber language of the Tuareg. Some of the elite have learned French, the nation's official language.
Most people are Sunni Moslems but a minority practice an indiginous religion that is now labeled Maguzawa. This minority lives in scattered villages and believes in the importance of spirits called gori or iskoki.
There are no cities with as many as a quarter million residents; the three prefectural capitals are the most populous urban places.
The Tuareg probably arrived from the northeast thousands of years ago; much later, they were early converts to Islam. In the 19th century Fulani came from the west, conquering Nigeria's Hausaland and forcing conversion to Islam. Many Hausa pagans fled north to Maradi, or to join the Hausa already in Zinder. (The Zinder community dates to at least the 11th century when the town was walled, and perhaps existed there much earlier.) Most of the Hausa have converted to Islam since.