Say
Say Location in Niger
Coordinates:13°06′N2°22′E / 13.100°N 2.367°E /13.100; 2.367
Country	Niger
Region	Tillabéri Region
Department	Say Department
Established	15th Century
Elevation	180 m (590 ft)
Population  (2012 census)
• City	58,290
• Urban	13,546
• Metro	175,625 (Say Department)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (WAT)

Say (Saayi) is a town in southwestNiger, situated on theNiger River. It is the capital of theSay Department in theTillabéri Region. Say was a smallSonghai^[1] town prior to the arrival of the Fulani maraboutAlfa Mohamed Diobo in the nineteenth century who converted the town to a center for Islamic learning and established theEmirate of Say.^[2] The municipality has 58,290 inhabitants,^[3][4] and its economy is dominated byagriculture,herding and small trade. Today, the inhabitants of Say are mostlyPeulh,Songhai andZarma.

The town houses theIslamic University of Niger (Université Islamique de Say), an institute of international scope, whose founding was decided following a meeting of theOrganisation of the Islamic Conference in 1974, but that opened only in 1986. In 1996, it had 400 students, who paid fees much lower than those of theUniversity of Niamey.^[5] In Say there is also a forty-year-old College of Secondary Education (Collège d'enseignement secondaire), with nine teachers and 675 students.^[6]

Say was part of theSonghay Empire, which peaked in the 16th century. When the Songhay collapsed after the 1591Battle of Tondibi, some of the refugees sheltered in the Say area.^[7]

In the nineteenth century, Say became anEmirate under the leadership of the MaraboutAlfa Mohamed Diobo. The town was occupied by France on 9 May 1897 and administered fromDahomey until 1907. In 1928, it became part of the cercle of Niamey. Located 57 km fromNiamey, not far from theW National Park. The town (now an urban commune) has today 70,000 people but bears little resemblance to the ancient center of Islamic learning. In recognition of its former role, however, Niger's firstMadrasa (Islamic School) was set up here in 1957, and in 1974 theOrganization of the Islamic Conference designated Say as the site for an Islamic university for West Africa, The new university, theIslamic University of Say, opened its doors in October 1986, withDr. Abdallah Ben Abdel Mohsen At-Turki as its rector. Say is connected to the capital Niamey by an all-weather road and has a colorful Friday market to which many tourists flock.^[8]

Say is the location of some potential iron ore mines with reserves of about 650MT.^[9][10] An extension of the railway fromBenin toNiamey is proposed which would serve the iron ore mines at Say.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  Woman from Say, 1898
• 
  People of Say, 1898
• 
  People of Say, 1898
• 
  Marabouts of Say, 1912

• Iron ore in Africa

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Say" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 276.

13°06′N2°22′E / 13.100°N 2.367°E /13.100; 2.367

• Mining communities in Africa
• Mining in Niger
• Communes of Tillabéri Region

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