Chad (prior to 1991)

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Chad

Information

Capital

N'Djamena

Major Cities

N'Djamena, Sarh, Moundou, Abéché, Doba and Moundou

Language(s)

French, Arabic (both official); Sara; more than 120 languages and dialects

Area

1,284,000 square kilometres (496,000 sq mi)

Population

5,017,431 (1990)

Ethnic Groups

200 distinct groups. North and centre, mostly Muslim: Arabs, Gorane (Toubou, Daza, Kreda), Zaghawa, Kanembou, Ouaddai, Baguirmi, Hadjerai, Fulbe, Kotoko, Hausa, Boulala, and Maba. South, mostly Christian or animist: Sara (Ngambaye, Mbaye, Goulaye), Moundang, Moussei and Massa

Demonym

Chadian

Independence

1960

GDP

$13.15 billion (1990)

Currency

CFA Franc

Anthem

"La Tchadienne" (French), نشيد تشاد الوطني (Arabic), "The Song of Chad"

Nickname(s)

Dead heart of Africa

Overview[]

The Chad (official name: The Republic of Chad) is a landlocked country located in the central part of Africa and shares its borders with Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. It has been described as one of the ten failed states of the world, and it has also earned the notoriety as the "Dead heart of Africa" due to its distance from the sea and its desert climate.

The arid Tibesti Mountains in the north of Chad is the largest mountain chain in the Sahara Desert. The middle is part of an arid zone known as the Sahel Belt and both the shrinking Lake Chad and the more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone are in the south.

There are more than 200 ethnic groups live in Chad. Most of those living in the north and east are generally Muslim and most those who live in the southern part of the country are animists or Christians. The country has maintained a long traditional religious and commercial relationship with Sudan and Egypt. Most of the population of Chad depend on agriculture for livelihood, mostly subsistence farming.

It was notorious for it's harsh northern climate, pathetic econamy, poor governance, political instability and Muslim vs Christians and Animist antagonism.

History[]

It was a French colony between 1900 and 1960, but control was at best nominal in the northern deserts. It remained a French ally after independence. They formally took over the Territoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorates du Tchad by 1900 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa in 1920, but colonial rule was brutal and Chad was never seriously developed by the French. It was given autonomy in 1958.

The Aouzou Strip was transferred by France it to the then Italian colony of Libya between 1935 and 1955. On independence Chad said they would keep the Aouzou Strip, but Libya wanted to get it back. The people were the Toubou tribal kindred of those in southern Libya and geological reports stated there was a large uranium deposit in the Aouzou Strip.

1960–1979[]

François Tombalbaye, who was a Christian from the large southern Sara tribe, became its first president in 1960. He became a dictator and alienated everyone, including his own tribe.

The northern Muslims, led by the National Liberation Front of Chad (French: Front de libération nationale du Tchad, FRONILAT), rose up and began a civil war.

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The capital, N'Djamena, was originally called Fort-Lamy after a local French official when it was founded in 1900 by the French on the banks of the Chari River. The city was renamed N'Djamena in 1973, allowing it to reflect it's local Chadian heritage.

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1979–1987[]

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1987–1991[]

Libya laid claimed to about 40% of the northern Chand leading to the ICJ 's Case Concerning the Territorial Dispute (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Chad) [1994]. The area which Libya called the Libya–Chad Borderlands or simply the Borderlands included parts of the regions of Borkou, Ennedi and Tibesti, including parts of the localities of Erdi, Kanem and Ounianga. It also covered the Chadian region of B.E.T., excluding northern Kanem.

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Health care[]

Very basic in the capital and non existent elsewhere.

Defence[]

The armed forces were little more than a French supervised light weight self defence force. It bought most of it's equipment from France, United States, Soviet Union and China. France, as Chad’s former colonial power, remained a key military ally and provided both arms and military training. France also gave direct intervention during conflicts like the Chadian–Libyan War was crucial in countering various Libyan-backed factions.

Government[]

Chad's legal system is based on French civil law and Chadian customary law where the latter does not interfere with public order or constitutional guarantees of equality. The goverment interfered with the legal system and the president appointed the top legal officials.

Politics[]

It was marked by civil wars and dictatorships.

Energy[]

Very basic in the capital and non existent elsewhere.

Foreign Policy[]

Aligning to those how guaranteed the nation's day to day survival.

Economy[]

It was mostly bases on peasant subsistence farming, salt trading, cotton growing and cattle herding. Most of its inhabitants lived in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. The Chari, Logone and their tributaries—flow through the southern savannas from the southeast into Lake Chad (which takes it's name from the Kanuri word for "lake"). The mining industry of Chad produced sodium carbonate, or natron since the 1960s, while the gold-bearing quartz in the Biltine Prefecture went unexsploited. Oil exploration in Chad began in the 1950s when the French colonial administration discovered least 3 oil fields, but they did not drill the oil due to the high cost of exploiting it, the French opted not to develop them. Florigen oil firms did not want to invest in the unstable country untill things partly political and sectarian clamed down in the year 2000.

Demographics[]

The population began to grow sharply after 1955 and sky rocketed after 1985. Ngambay (also known as Sara, Sara Ngambai, Gamba, Gambaye, Gamblai and Ngambai) is one of the major languages spoken by Sara people in southwestern Chad.

Also see[]

The Toyota War
Chadian Presidents (1960-2021)
This is why Chad will never be a great nation