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Motto:
"Unité, Travail, Progrès" (French)
"Unity, Work, Progress" |
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Chad officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa". Chad is divided into three major geographical regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and
N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. In 1960 Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François
Tombalbaye. Resentment towards his policies in the Muslim north culminated in the eruption of a long-lasting civil war in 1965. In 1979 the rebels conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselves until Hissène Habré defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in 1990 by his general Idriss Déby. Recently, the Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees living in and around camps in eastern Chad.
While many political parties are active, power lies firmly in the hands of President Déby and his political party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups d'état (see Battle of N'Djamena (2006) and Battle of N'Djamena (2008)).
The country is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world; most Chadians live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. Since 2003 crude oil has become the country's primary source of export earnings, superseding the traditional cotton industry.
Area: 495,755 sq mi (1,284,000 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 9,157,000. Capital:
N’Djamena. The Sara are the largest ethnic group, making up about one-fourth of the total population; other groups include the
Kebbi, Kanem-Bornu, Tangale, Fulani, and Gorane. Arabs, including a number of peoples, represent a single ethnic group. Languages: French, Arabic (both official),
Fula, Sara. Religions: Islam, Christianity, traditional beliefs. Currency: CFA franc. The landlocked country’s terrain is a shallow basin that rises gradually from the Lake Chad area in the west. The basin is rimmed by mountains, including the volcanic Tibesti Massif to the north, rising to 11,204 ft (3,415 m) at Mount
Koussi. The lowest elevation, 573 ft (175 m), is in the Djourab Depression. Chad’s river network is limited to the Chari and Logone rivers and their tributaries, which flow from the southeast into Lake Chad. The economy is agricultural; gold, uranium, and petroleum reserves have not been fully exploited. Chad is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president, its head of government the prime minister. About ad 800 the kingdom of Kanem was founded, and by the early 1200s its borders had expanded to form a new kingdom,
Kanem-Bornu, in the north. Its power peaked in the 16th century with its command of the southern terminus of the trans-Sahara trade route to Tripoli. About this time the rival kingdoms of Baguirmi and Ouaddaï
(Wadai) evolved in the south. In the years 1883–93 all three kingdoms fell to the Sudanese adventurer Rābiḥ
al-Zubayr, who was overthrown in 1900 by a local ruler under French protection. Extending their power, the French in 1910 made Chad a part of French Equatorial Africa, and it was made an overseas territory in 1946. The country achieved independence in 1960 but has had decades of civil war despite frequent intervention by France and Libya, resulting in political instability and a lack of economic development.
Although it is the fifth largest country on the continent, Chad—much of the northern part of which lies in the Sahara—has a population density of only about 20 persons per square mile (8 persons per square
kilometre). Most of the population lives by agriculture; cotton is grown in the south, and cattle are raised in the central region. Chad joined the ranks of oil-producing countries in 2003, raising hopes that the revenues generated would improve the country’s economic situation.
Chad is bounded on the north by Libya, on the east by The Sudan, on the south by the Central African Republic, and on the west by Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. The frontiers of Chad, which constitute a heritage from the colonial era, do not coincide with either natural or ethnic boundaries.
In its physical structure Chad consists of a large basin bounded on the north, east, and south by mountains. Lake Chad, which represents all that remains of a much larger lake that covered much of the region in earlier geologic periods, is situated in the centre of the western frontier; it is 922 feet (281
metres) above sea level. The lowest altitude of the basin is the Djourab Depression, which is 573 feet above sea level.
In the early Holocene, possibly until as recently as 7,000 years ago, the lake stood at a level of about 1,100 feet above sea level, or some 180 feet higher than today, and was as much as 550 feet deep. At that stage Mega-Chad, as it has been called, occupied an area of some 130,000 square miles and overflowed southward via the present-day Kébi River and then over the Gauthiot Falls westward to the Benue River and the Atlantic Ocean. Older dune systems, flooded by Mega-Chad, form linear islands in the present lake and extend hundreds of miles to the east, the interdunal hollows being occupied by diatomites and other lake sediments.
The mountains that rim the basin include the volcanic Tibesti Massif to the north (of which the highest point is Mount
Koussi, with an altitude of 11,204 feet [3,415 metres]), the sandstone peaks of the Ennedi Plateau to the northeast, the crystalline rock mountains of the Ouaddaï
(Wadai) region to the east, and the Oubangui Plateau to the south. The semicircle is completed to the southwest by the mountains of Adamawa and
Mandara, which lie mostly beyond the frontier in Cameroon and Nigeria.
Chad’s river network is virtually limited to the Chari and Logone rivers and their tributaries, which flow from the southeast to feed Lake Chad. The remaining Chad waterways are either seasonal or are of insignificant size. The
Chari, which arises from headstreams in the Central African Republic to the south, is later joined from the east by the Salamat Wadi and from the west by the Ouham River, its largest tributary. After entering an ill-defined area of swampland between Niellim and
Dourbali, it flows through a large delta into Lake Chad. The Chari is about 750 miles in length and has a flow that normally varies between 600 and 12,000 cubic feet (17,000 to 340,000
litres) per second, according to the season. The Logone, which for some of its course runs along the Cameroon frontier, is formed by the junction of the Pendé and Mbéré rivers; its flow varies between 170 and 3,000 cubic feet per second, and its course is more than 600 miles long before it joins the Chari at
N’Djamena. The level of Lake Chad fluctuates according to the flow of these rivers, as well as according to the degree of precipitation, evaporation, and seepage. The droughts of the 1970s and early ’80s in the Sahel region of western Africa reduced the lake to record low levels. By 1985 it had been reduced to a pool, immediately to the north of the
Chari–Logone mouth, occupying about 1,000 square miles.
Several types of soil formation occur in Chad, apart from the sand of the desert zone and the sheer rock of the mountainous areas. On the south side of Lake Chad the soils are derived from clayey deposits that accumulated on the floor of Mega-Chad. Along the seasonally flooded banks of the Chari and Logone rivers and the Salamat
Wadi, hydromorphic (waterlogged) soils occur. Tropical iron-bearing soils, red in
colour, are found on the exposed folds and mounds of the Ouaddaï region’s upland slopes. In the Kanem region (area north of Lake Chad) subarid soils are characteristic, except in the depressions that occur between the dunes on the shores of Lake Chad, where hydromorphic soils liable to salinization are found.
Chad’s wide range in latitudes (that extend southward from the tropic of Cancer for more than 15°) is matched by a climatic range that varies from wet and dry tropical to hot arid. At the towns of Moundou and
Sarh, in the wet and dry tropical zone, between 32 and 48 inches (800 and 1,200
millimetres) of rain falls annually between May and October. In the central semiarid tropical
(Sahel) zone, where N’Djamena is situated, between 12 and 32 inches of rain falls between June and September. In the north rains are infrequent, with an annual average of less than one inch being recorded at
Largeau.
Chad thus has one relatively short rainy season. The dry season, which lasts from December to February everywhere in the country, is relatively cool, with daytime temperatures of about 85° to 95° F (29° to 35° C) and nighttime temperatures that drop to about 55° F (13° C). From March onward it becomes very hot until the first heavy rains fall. At
N’Djamena, for example, daytime temperatures average more than 100° F (38° C) between March and June. Heavy rains begin at N’Djamena in July, and average daytime temperatures drop to the low 90s F (mid-30s C), but nighttime temperatures remain in the 70s F (20s C) until the onset of N’Djamena’s dry, cool season in November.
Three vegetation zones, correlated with the rainfall, may be distinguished. These are a wet and dry tropical zone in the south, characterized by shrubs, tall grasses, and scattered broad-leaved deciduous trees; a semiarid tropical
(Sahel) zone, in which savanna vegetation gradually merges into a region of thorn bushes and open steppe country; and a hot arid zone, composed of dunes and plateaus in which vegetation is scarce and occasional palm oases are to be found.
The tall grasses and the extensive marshes of the savanna zone have an abundant wildlife. There large mammals—such as the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, warthog, giraffe, antelope, lion, leopard, and cheetah—coexist with a wide assortment of birds and reptiles. The rivers and the lake are among the richest in fish of all African waters. The humid regions also contain swarms of insects, some of which are dangerous.
Conditioned by soil and climate, land is put to different uses in the three vegetation zones. In the wet and dry tropical zone, farmers cultivate rice and sorghum in the clay soils and peanuts (groundnuts) and millet in the sandier areas. Manioc, recently introduced, is also cultivated. Between the latitudes of 11° and 15° N, the retreat of the rivers in the dry season leaves behind flooded depressions called
yaere, allowing a second crop of “dry season” sorghum, or
berbere, to be cultivated. Since 1928 the cultivation of cotton in the area between the Logone and Chari rivers has been encouraged, first by the colonial administration and since 1960 by the national government. Cotton cultivation, while tending to upset the ecological balance by exhausting the soil, has nevertheless resulted in the introduction of a cash economy in place of a barter economy. The cultivation of rice, begun in 1958 in irrigated plots in the Bongor region, south of
N’Djamena, has proved successful. A joint venture with France introduced sugarcane cultivation in the 1970s. Improved strains of both cotton and rice have produced higher yields.
The intermediate semiarid tropical zone is inhabited by both sedentary cultivators and nomadic
pastoralists. The northern limit of the bloodsucking tsetse fly, deadly to cattle and the carrier of sleeping sickness to humans, is latitude 10° N; beyond this limit, extensive stock raising begins, occasionally in association with agriculture, as for example in the Kanem region. The inhabitants raise millet and grow peanuts wherever the mean annual rainfall exceeds 15 inches. Cotton is grown where and when rainfall exceeds 30 inches. Large herds of cattle migrate over the semiarid tropical zone in search of pasture and water. In very limited areas bordering Lake Chad, the presence of water allows three harvests of wheat and corn (maize) to be grown in some years on irrigated plots called polders. Elsewhere the seminomadic inhabitants are almost completely dependent upon rainfall. Drought has had serious repercussions, affecting both the livestock and the
pastoralists, whose livelihood depends on milk products.
In the hot arid zone, nomads live among their herds of camels, frequenting palm groves in such oases as that at
Largeau. Farther north, in the Tibesti Mountains, tiny plots of millet, tomatoes, peppers, and other minor crops are grown for local consumption, often in the shade of date palms. These garden crops depend on irrigation from springs breaking out from the sandstones and volcanic rocks at widely separated points and shallow wells in the sandy sediments flooring steep-sided valleys.
Urban life in Chad is virtually restricted to the capital,
N’Djamena. Founded in the early years of the 20th century, the city has undergone a dramatic growth in population due not to a high degree of industrialization but to the other attractions of urban life. The majority of the population is engaged in commerce. Other major towns, such as Sarh (formerly
Fort-Archambault), Moundou, and Abéché, are less urbanized than is the capital.
The population of Chad presents a tapestry composed of different languages, peoples, and religions that is remarkable even amid the variety of Africa. The degree of variety encountered in Chad underscores the significance of the region as a crossroads of linguistic, social, and cultural interchange.
More than 100 different languages and dialects are spoken in the country. Although many of these languages are imperfectly recorded, they may be divided into the following 12 groupings: (1) the
Sara-Bongo-Bagirmi group, representing languages spoken by about one million people in southern and central Chad, (2) the Mundang-Tuburi-Mbum languages, which are spoken by several hundred thousand people in southwestern Chad, (3) the Chado-Hamitic group, which is related to the Hausa spoken in Nigeria, (4) the Kanembu-Zaghawa languages, spoken in the north, mostly by nomads, (5) the Maba group, spoken in the vicinity of Abéché and throughout the Ouaddaï region of eastern Chad, (6) the Tama languages, spoken in the Abéché, Adré, Goz Béïda, and Am Dam regions, (7)
Daju, spoken in the area of Goz Béïda and Am Dam, (8) some languages of the Central African groups, particularly Sango (also the lingua franca of the Central African Republic), which are spoken in the south, (9) the Bua group, spoken in southern and central Chad, (10) the Somrai group, spoken in western and central Chad, and (11) Mimi and (12) Fur, both spoken in the extreme east.
In addition to this rich assortment, Arabic is also spoken in various forms and is one of the two official languages of the country. The dialects spoken by the nomadic Arabs differ from the tongue spoken by settled Arabs. A simplified Arabic is spoken in towns and markets; its diffusion is linked to that of Islām.
French is the other official language, and it is used in communications and in instruction as well, although the national radio network also broadcasts in Arabic, Sara
Madjingay, Tuburi, and Mundang. While a regional form of French, showing local linguistic and environmental peculiarities, is spoken widely in the towns, its penetration into the countryside is uneven. Its use is closely linked to the development of education.
As might be expected, the linguistic variety reflects an ethnic composition of great complexity. A general classification may nevertheless be made, again in terms of the three regions of Chad.
In the wet and dry tropical zone, the Sara group forms a significant element of the population in the central parts of the Chari and Logone river basins. The Laka and Mbum peoples live to the west of the Sara groups and, like the Gula and Tumak of the Goundi area, are culturally distinct from their Sara
neighbours. Along the banks of the Chari and Logone rivers, and in the region between the two rivers, are found the Tangale peoples.
Among the inhabitants of the semiarid tropical zone are the Barma of
Bagirmi, the founders of the kingdom of the same name; they are surrounded by groups of
Kanuri, Fulani, Hausa, and Arabs, many of whom have come from outside Chad itself. Along the lower courses of the Logone and Chari rivers are the
Kotoko, who are supposedly descended from the ancient Sao population that formerly lived in the region. The Yedina
(Buduma) and Kuri inhabit the Lake Chad region and, in the Kanem area, are associated with the Kanembu and
Tunjur, who are of Arabic origin. All of these groups are sedentary and coexist with
Daza, Kreda, and Arab nomads. The Hadjeray (of the Guera Massif) and Abou Telfân are composed of refugee populations who, living on their mountainous terrain, have resisted various invasions. On the plains surrounding the Hadjeray are the
Bulala, Kuka, and the Midogo, who are sedentary peoples. In the eastern region of Ouaddaï live the
Maba, among whom the Kado once formed an aristocracy. They constitute a nucleus surrounded by a host of other groups who, while possessing their own languages, nevertheless constitute a distinct cultural unit. The Tama to the north and the Daju to the south have formed their own separate sultanates. Throughout the Ouaddaï region are found groups of nomadic Arabs, who are also found in other parts of south central Chad. Despite their widespread diffusion, these Arabs represent a single ethnic group composed of a multitude of tribes. In Kanem other Arabs, mostly of Libyan origin, are also found.
In the northern Chad regions of Tibesti, Borkou, and Ennedi the population is composed of black nomads. Their dialects are related to those of the Kanembu and
Kanuri.
In the 7th millennium BC, ecological conditions in the northern half of Chadian territory favored human settlement, and the region experienced a strong population increase. Some of the most important African archaeological sites are found in Chad, mainly in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region; some date to earlier than 2,000
BC. For more than 2000 years, the Chadian Basin has been inhabited by agricultural and sedentary peoples. The region became a crossroads of civilizations. The earliest of these were the legendary Sao, known from artifacts and oral histories. The Sao fell to the Kanem
Empire, the first and longest-lasting of the empires that developed in Chad's Sahelian strip by the end of the 1st millennium AD. The power of Kanem and its successors was based on control of the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the
region. These states, at least tacitly Muslim, never extended their control to the southern grasslands except to raid for
slaves.
French colonial expansion led to the creation of the Territoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad in 1900. By 1920, France had secured full control of the colony and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial
Africa. French rule in Chad was characterised by an absence of policies to unify the territory and sluggish
modernisation. The French primarily viewed the colony as an unimportant source of untrained labour and raw cotton; France introduced large-scale cotton production in 1929. The colonial administration in Chad was critically understaffed and had to rely on the dregs of the French civil service. Only the south was governed effectively; French presence in the north and east was nominal. The educational system suffered from this
neglect. After World War II, France granted Chad the status of overseas territory and its inhabitants the right to elect representatives to the French National Assembly and a Chadian assembly. The largest political party was the Chadian Progressive Party
(PPT), based in the southern half of the colony. Chad was granted independence on August 11, 1960 with the PPT's leader, François
Tombalbaye, as its first president.
Two years later, Tombalbaye banned opposition parties and established a one-party system. Tombalbaye's autocratic rule and insensitive mismanagement exacerbated interethnic tensions. In 1965 Muslims began a civil war. Tombalbaye was overthrown and killed in
1975, but the insurgency continued. In 1979 the rebel factions conquered the capital, and all central authority in the country collapsed. Armed factions, many from the north's rebellion, contended for
power. The disintegration of Chad caused the collapse of France's position in the country. Libya moved to fill the power vacuum and became involved in Chad's civil
war. Libya adventure ended in disaster in 1987; the French-supported president, Hissène Habré, evoked a united response from Chadians of a kind never seen
before and forced the Libyan army off Chadian soil.
Habré consolidated his dictatorship through a power system that relied on corruption and violence; an estimated 40,000 people were killed under his
rule. The president favored his own Daza ethnic group and discriminated against his former allies, the
Zaghawa. His general, Idriss Déby, overthrew him in 1990.
Déby attempted to reconcile the rebel groups and reintroduced multiparty politics. Chadians approved a new constitution by referendum, and in 1996, Déby easily won a competitive presidential election. He won a second term five years
later. Oil exploitation began in Chad in 2003, bringing with it hopes that Chad would at last have some chances of peace and prosperity. Instead, internal dissent worsened, and a new civil war broke out. Déby unilaterally modified the constitution to remove the two-term limit on the presidency; this caused an uproar among the civil society and opposition
parties. In 2006 Déby won a third mandate in elections that the opposition boycotted. Ethnic violence in eastern Chad has increased; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that a genocide like that in Darfur may yet occur in
Chad.
In 2006 and in 2008 rebel forces have attempted to take the capital by force, but have on both circumstances
futile.
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