Northern Region, Nigeria patches of grass and sand, found in the northeast. In the Sahel region, rain is less than 20 inches (508 mm) per year and the Sahara Desert is encroaching. In the dry north-east corner of the country lies Lake Chad, which Northern Nigeria shares with Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Northern Nigeria is divided into 18 provinces: Kano, the largest of the provinces in terms of population and economy is in the North-Central part of the country. The Kano Native Authority an offshoot of the fula Kano Emirate inherited the ancient trade industries that fuelled the trans saharan trade with North
Colony of Niger Tibesti Cercle ceded to Chad Colony in French Equatorial Africa, and in 1932, the colony of French Upper Volta was divided amongst its neighbors, with the Cercles of Dori and Fada N'gourma ceded to Niger Colony. Niger Colony officials, unlike neighboring Chad, remained loyal to the French Vichy government after 1940, and thus closed its southern border (to Nigeria) and eastern border until 1944. On 31 December 1946 the Military Territories of N'Guigmi and Agadez were ceded to Niger Colony, leaving only Bilma Cercle as the last military-run section of modern Niger. This area in the far north east only