Long before the arrival of French influence and control in the area, present-day Niger is an important economic crossroads, and the empires of Songhai, Mali, Gao and Kanem-Bornu as well as a number of Hausa states claim control over portions of the area. During recent centuries, the nomadic Tuareg form large confederations, push southward and - siding with various Hausa states - clash with the Fulani Empire of Sokoto, which had gained control of much of the Hausa territory in the late 18th century. In the 1880s it is penetrated by France, that annexes it in 1900 and makes this military territory part of French West Africa. Niger becomes a separate colony in 1921. In addition to conferring French citizenship on the inhabitants of the territory, the 1946 French constitution provides for decentralization of power and limited participation in political life for local advisory assemblies. After the dissolution of French West Africa in 1958, Niger gets autonomy as the Republic of Niger. Hamani Diori of the Parti Progressiste Nigérien (Nigerian Progressive Party, PPN) becomes prime minoster.

This is followed by independence in 1960, after which it becomes a one-party state led by president Hamani Diori and the PPN. Extreme drought in the early 1970s leads to a coup in 1974, resulting in a military dictatorship under Seyni Kountché and since 1987 Ali Saibou. Saibou's efforts to control political reforms fail in the face of union and student demands to institute a multi-party democratic system. Saibou forms the Mouvement National de la Societé de Développement (National Movement of the Development Society, MNSD) as his political vehicle.

The Saibou regime acquiesces to these demands by the end of 1990. New political parties and civic associations spring up and a national conference is convened in 1991 to prepare the way for the adoption of a new constitution and the holding of free and fair elections. Elections are held in 1993, bringing Mahamane Ousmane of the centrist Convention Démocratique et Sociale (Democratic and Social Convention, CDS) to power. Rivalries within the ruling coalition lead to governmental paralysis, which provides Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara a rationale to overthrow the Third Republic in 1996. He organizes and wins a flawed election in 1996, in which he is a candidate of his Union Nationale des Independants pour la Renoveau Democratique (National Independents Union for Democratic Renewal, UNRID).

In 1999 Baré is overthrown in a coup led by Daouda Mallam Wanké, who establishes a transitional National Reconciliation Council to oversee the drafting of a constitution for a Fifth Republic with a French style semi-presidential system. In votes that international observers found to be generally free and fair, the Nigerien electorate approve the new constitution and holds legislative and presidential elections in 1999. Heading a coalition of the MNSD and the CDS, Mamadou Tandja of the MNSD wins the presidency.