A vast, arid state on the edge of the Sahara desert, Niger endured austere military rule for much of its post-independence history and is rated by the UN as one of the world's least-developed nations.
The drought-prone country sometimes struggles to feed its people. Its main export, uranium, is prone to price fluctuations and agriculture is threatened by the encroaching desert. Niger is bargaining on oil exploration and gold mining to boost its fortunes.
Historically a gateway between North and sub-Saharan Africa, Niger came under French rule in the late 1890s.
After independence in 1960 its progress was stymied by political instability and a five-year drought, which devastated livestock and crops.
With little primary education, Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Its health system is basic and disease is widespread.
After a break of a decade, Niger again experienced an insurgency by Tuareg rebels in the north in 2007.
The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) complained that a 1995 peace deal that ended the previous insurgency has never been fully implemented and that the region remains marginalised. The group demands greater autonomy and a larger share of uranium revenue.
In 2009, the MNJ and the government held talks in Libya, at which they committed themselves to a "total and comprehensive" peace.
In 1999 voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution providing for presidential and legislative multi-party elections. These took place later in the year and saw Mamadou Tandja elected as president.
Mr Tandja introduced a new constitution in 2009 to extend his powers in a move described by the opposition as a coup. He was himself overthrown in a coup at the beginning of 2010.
Niger banned the centuries-old practice of slavery in 2003. But anti-slavery organisations say thousands of people still live in subjugation.
Head of military government: Maj Salou Djibo
A senior army officer, Salou Djibo was named head of the military junta that ousted President Mamadou Tandja in a coup in February 2010.
At the same time, coup leaders promised to return Niger to democracy, and installed a civilian prime minister, Mahamadou Danda, at the head of an interim government.
The junta, which named itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, also barred itself and its transitional government from running in future elections.
The coup led Niger to be expelled from the African Union, but the international community was otherwise cautious in condemning it, while urging the coup leaders to move towards fresh elections as soon as possible.
A member of the Songhai ethnic group, Maj Djibo was born in 1965 in the western region of Tillaberi. He was given military training in Ivory Coast, China and Morocco, and served with Niger's contingents in the UN peacekeeping forces in Ivory Coast and DR Congo.
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Presidential and parliamentary elections designed to restore civilian rule were held in January 2011. They were given the approval of international observers. A run-off presidential election is to be held on 12 March between veteran opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou ex-Prime Minister Seini Oumarou.
President (ousted): Mamadou Tandja
Mamadou Tandja had ruled Niger for more than a decade when he was toppled by the February 2010 coup.
Only five months earlier, he had won a referendum overturning a constitutional provision banning him from standing for a third term, in a move strongly criticised by the opposition.
Mr Tandja, a former army officer, was first voted into office in 1999 and was returned for a second and final term in elections in 2004.
He was initially praised for helping restore relative stability to his country, but later brushed aside domestic and international objections to change the constitution and stay in power.
The Constitutional Court twice ruled his plans for a referendum on the measure illegal, but Mr Tandja reacted by disbanding both the court and parliament, and assuming emergency powers.
The referendum went ahead in August 2009 and Mr Tandja scored a landslide victory.
Opposition parties said the referendum the result was rigged and accused the president of having mounted a coup, and foreign governments voiced grave concern.
Supporters argued that Mr Tandja had brought economic growth, and deserved a longer stay in power.
Born in 1938, he took part in a coup which overthrew Hamani Diori, Niger's first elected president, in 1974, and subsequently served as interior minister. He stood for the presidency unsuccessfully in 1993 and 1996.
A chronology of key events:
1890 - French occupy Niger.
1958 - Niger becomes autonomous republic of the French Community.
1960 - Niger becomes independent; parliament elects Diori Haman president.
1968-73 - Severe drought devastates Niger's livestock and crop production.
1974 - Diori Herman overthrown in military coup led by Lt-Col Seyni Kountche.
1987 - Ali Seybou, the armed forces chief of staff, succeeds Kountche who dies of a brain tumour.
1989 - A new constitution brings Niger back to civilian rule, but under a one-party system; Seybou re-elected president.
Ban on parties lifted
1990 - Seybou legalizes opposition parties following a wave of strikes and demonstrations.
1990 - Rebellion by Tuareg people in the north begins.
1991 July - Constitutional conference strips Seybou of his powers and sets up a transitional government under Andre Salifou.
1992 - New constitution allowing multiparty elections ratified.
1993 - Mahamane Ousmane elected president and his coalition, the Alliance of the Forces of Change wins a majority of seats in parliament.
1995 - Ceasefire between the government and the Tuareg's Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara comes into effect.
More coups
1996 January - Ousmane ousted in a coup led by Colonel Ibrahim Mainassara, who bans all political parties.
1996 May - New constitution giving the president increased powers approved in a referendum; ban on political parties lifted.
1996 July - Mainassara wins presidential election.
1997 - The Democratic Renewal Front, a hard-line Tuareg group, signs peace accord with government.
1999 April - Major Daouda Wanke assumes power following the assassination of Mainassara by his bodyguards.
1999 August - New constitution restoring the balance between the legislative and executive branches of power approved in a referendum.
1999 October and November - Mamadou Tandja elected president and his party, the National Movement for the Society in Development, wins majority of seats in parliament.
2001 January - Niger bans hunting in an effort to save its wildlife population, which includes the lion, the giraffe and the hippopotamus.
2002 August - Soldiers mutiny in the east and in the capital and demand the payment of wage arrears and better conditions. The rebellions are put down.
Uranium claim
2003 January - US President George W Bush claims Iraq tried to acquire uranium from Niger for its nuclear programme. Claim also made in UK's September 2002 dossier on Iraq.
2003 March - Nuclear watchdog tells UN that documents relating to Iraq-Niger uranium claim are forged, concludes specific allegations are unfounded.
2004 July - First-ever local elections. Parties backing the president win most of the seats.
2004 December - President Mamadou Tandja wins a second term in office with 65.5% of the vote in a second-round ballot.
2005 March - A planned ceremony at which some 7,000 slaves were to be freed is cancelled after the government claims that slavery does not exist in Niger.
Widespread protests over tax increases of up to 20% on basic goods.
2005 July - UN warns that millions of people face severe malnutrition because of food shortages caused by drought and locust infestations.
International Court of Justice awards Niger most of the river islands along its disputed border with Benin.
2006 June - Unions call a national strike to protest against the high cost of living.
Health and educations ministers are sacked following pressure from donors who allege corruption.
2006 July - Aid agencies warn of dwindling supplies of food. The World Food Programme says it is already feeding 1.5 million people.
2006 October - Government starts expelling Mahamid Arabs to Chad, but shortly afterwards reverses the policy. Many of of the Mahamid crossed into Niger more than 30 years ago to escape drought, famine and fighting.
Tuareg rebellion
2007 August - Government declares alert in the north, giving the army greater powers to fight Tuareg rebels who have staged deadly attacks over the past six months.
2007 December - Two French journalists working for the French-German TV station, Arte, arrested for interviewing Tuareg rebels.
2008 February - The 110 million-year-old fossils of two previously unknown species of flesh-eating dinosaurs are discovered in Niger's desert area.
2008 June - Police arrest former PM Hama Amadou on charges of embezzling state funds.
Constitutional 'coup'
2008 July - Government orders the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to halt all operations, reportedly over suspicions of links to Tuareg rebels.
2009 April - Government and Tuareg rebels of the Movement of Niger People for Justice (MNJ) agree to end hostilities after talks in Libyan capital Tripoli.
2009 May-June - President Mamadou Tandja suspends constitution and assumes emergency powers after Constitutional Court rules against his plans for a referendum on whether to allow him to seek a third term.
2009 August - Much-criticized referendum endorses new constitution which allows President Tandja to rule for three more years and gives him broader powers.
2009 October - Opposition boycotts election to replace parliament that President Tandja dissolved to stop it blocking his constitutional changes. Mr Tandja's supporters win overwhelming victory over independent candidates.
West African regional grouping ECOWAS suspends Niger for having failed to postpone the elections.
2010 February - President Tandja is ousted in a coup and a senior army officer, Col Salou Djibo, named head of a military government. The African Union suspends Niger's membership.
2010 March - Coup leader Col Salou Djibo promises to return Niger to democracy, but sets no date for elections.
Military junta appoints a transitional government headed by a civilian prime minister, Mahamadou Danda.
2010 April - French national Michel Germaneau is seized near border with Mali and Algeria in a kidnapping claimed by Al Qaeda. He is killed after a failed French rescue raid in Mali.
2010 May - Food shortages affecting 7 million people, aid agencies say.
2010 July - Presidential elections set for January 2011.
2010 September - Seven foreigners, including five French nationals, are kidnapped in the northern uranium mining zone.
2010 October - New constitution designed to restore civilian rule approved in referendum.
2010 December - Environmental group Greenpeace reports large spill of radioactive material from the Somair uranium mine in the north.
2010 January - Two French nationals, kidnapped by suspected al-Qaeda militants, die in a rescue bid involving French troops.
Presidential and parliamentary elections designed to end military rule. A run-off presidential race is scheduled for 12 March.
