Tondikandia is a rural commune in Filingué Department, Tillabéri Region, Niger. Its chief place and administrative center is the town of Damana.
Geography
Tondikania, some 120 km northeast of the capital Niamey. It is centered in the large dry river valley of the Dallol Bosso, which runs south from Saharan Mali, joining the Niger River valley south of Niamey. Tondikania is bordered by Dingazi and Filingué to the northwest, Imanan and Kourfeye Centre to the northeast, Loga and Tagazar to the south, and Simiri to the east.
History
Tondikania's name comes from the pre-colonial Zarma statelet of the same name, formed in the early 19th century. Oral tradition from the village of Shat, to the northeast of Tondikania, describes Zarma peoples moving into the area from the southwest at some earlier date, displacing the now smaller Sudye population, an amalgam of earlier populations who now share the Zarma language. The prefix "Tondi-", "Mountain" in Zarma, is shared with many localities in the area. Nomadic Fula (; ) moved in the Dallol Bosso in the 18th century, setting up small states and centers of Muslim learning along the Niger River valley to the south and west. Sometime around 1830 Kel Gres Tuareg moved into the northern part of Tondikania, resulting in a series of conflicts and its Zarma and Fula neighbors, but also settling a number of sedentary dependent communities (the "Bellah") in the area. Prior to Frech expansion into the Niger Valley in the late 1890s, Tondikania was united under the rule of the war leader Karanta. In 1901, the French installed an official chieftaincy of the "Canton of Tondikania", whose head answered to the French administration of the Colony of Niger. The General and President of Niger, Seyni Kountché (1931–1987) was born in the village of Fandou Béri, Tondikania. Kountché's family remains influential in the area, while the late president's brother was in 2009 the long serving and respected head of Tondikania civil administration.
Population
While the Tondikania has been historically linked to the Zarma people, the commune also includes communities of Tuareg, Fulbe, and Hausa. In 2010, the government of Niger reported that the Commune of Tondikandia had 111,459 residents. A population of 84,223 was reported in 2001.
Administration
Tondikania is a Rural Commune, which includes a number of smaller subdivisions, governed by elected and appointed officials at the Commune level, based from Damana. It is in turn governed by the Filingué Department, a subdivision of the Tillabéri Region. In 2010 the Commune governed 210 administrative "Localities", which included 118 villages, 89 towns and 3 traditional chieftaincies. The largest town and commune administrative seat (chef-lieu) is the town of Damana, with a reported 2010 population of 3500.
These localities (2010) are: