or Joliba or Kworra
Principal river of western Africa.
The third longest on the continent, it rises in Guinea near the Sierra Leone border and flows into Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea . It is 2,600 mi (4,183 sq km) long, and its middle course is navigable for about 1,000 mi (1,600 km). Peoples living along the Niger include the Bambara , the Malinke , and the Songhai . It was explored by Mungo Park beginning in 1796.