Niger–Nigeria relations little interest in a pan-Hausa state. The division of Lake Chad, although forced to go to mediation between Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria, awaits formal settlement and has not been a source of tension between Niamey and Abuja. Nigeria has an embassy in Niamey, while Niger maintains an embassy in Abuja. The cities of southern Niger and Northern Nigeria have been linked in the Trans-Saharan trade going back to the medieval period. Cities such as Kano and Katsina have long been the southern terminus of trade networks which sustain much of Niger's economy. Nigeria benefits from the trade and agricultural
Niger far east as western Niger. The Kanem-Bornu Empire was an empire that existed in modern-day Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Libya. The empire first existed and prospered as the Kanem Empire as early as the 9th century and later as the Kingdom of Bornu until 1900. In the 19th century, contact with Europe began with the first European explorers—notably Monteil (French) and Barth (German)—to travel to Niger. Following the 1885 Berlin conference during which colonial powers outlined the division of Africa into colonial spheres, French military efforts to conquer existing African states were intensified in all French colonies including Niger.