Agadez
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Agadez
Agadez (ägˌädĕzˈ) or Agadès (ägädĕsˈ), town, W central Niger, in the Aïr Massif. Agadez is a trade center visited by Tuareg pastoral nomads. Leather and silver handicrafts are made. Tin, tungsten, uranium, and salt are mined nearby. Founded by the 11th cent., Agadez developed because of its location on trans-Saharan caravan routes linking Egypt and Libya with the Lake Chad area. Agadez was held by the Mali empire during part of the 14th cent., captured by the Songhai empire in 1515, and controlled by Bornu in the 17th cent. It remained a trade center until the late 19th cent. During much of this time it was a center of Islamic learning. The French occupied the town in the early 20th cent. Agadez has a 16th-century mosque and a school of mines.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Agadez
city in the Republic of Niger in the Air oasis on the Algiers-Zinder highway. Center of Agadez District. Population in 1962 was 6,900. Airfield.
Agadez is a center of commerce and distribution. There is a ceramic factory. It has a sultan’s palace and mosque of the 16th century. North of Agadez there is mining of tin, tungsten, and rock salt; there are commercial deposits of uranium ore.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.