Tchad / تشاد / Chade

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.

 

History

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. Libyia 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 favoured 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 failed.

 

Geography

At 1,284,000 square kilometres (496,000 sq mi), Chad is the world's 21st-largest country. It is slightly smaller than Peru and slightly larger than South Africa. Chad is in north central Africa, lying between 8° and 24° north and between 14° and 24° east. Chad is bounded to the north by Libya, to the east by Sudan, to the west by Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, and to the south by the Central African Republic. The country's capital is 1,060 km (660 mi) from the nearest seaport Douala (Cameroon). Due to this distance from the sea and the country's largely desert climate, Chad is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".

A heritage of the colonial era, Chad's borders do not coincide wholly with natural boundaries. The dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north, east and south by mountain ranges such as the Ennedi Plateau in the north-east. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the remains of an immense lake that occupied 330,000 km2 (130,000 sq mi) of the Chadian Basin 7,000 years ago.

Although in the 21st century it covers only 17,806 km2 (6,875 sq mi), and its surface area is subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations, the lake is Africa's second largest wetland. The Emi Koussi, a dormant volcano in the Tibesti Mountains that reaches 3,414 metres (11,201 ft) above sea level, is the highest point in Chad and the Sahara.

Each year a tropical weather system known as the intertropical front crosses Chad from south to north, bringing a wet season that lasts from May to October in the south, and from June to September in the Sahel. Variations in local rainfall create three major geographical zones. The Sahara lies in the country's northern third. Yearly precipitations there are under 50 millimetres (2.0 in) throughout this belt is scarce; only the occasional spontaneous palm grove survives, the only ones to do so south of the Tropic of Cancer. The Sahara gives way to a Sahelian belt in Chad's centre; precipitation there varies from 300 to 600 mm (11.8 to 23.6 in) per year. In the Sahel a steppe of thorny bushes (mostly acacias) gradually gives way to the south to East Sudanian savanna in Chad's Sudanese zone. Yearly rainfall in this belt is over 900 mm (35.4 in). The region's tall grasses and extensive marshes make it favourable for birds, reptiles, and large mammals. Chad's major rivers—the Chari, Logone and their tributaries—flow through the southern savannas from the southeast into Lake Chad.

 

Other infos

Oficial Name:

République du Tchad

جمهورية تشاد (Ǧumhūrīyâtu Tišād)

 

Independence:

August 11, 1960

 

Area:

1.284.000 km2

 

Capital: N’djamena

 

inabitants

10.317.000

 

Languages:

Amdang Arabic, Babalia Creole Arabic, Chadian Spoken Assangori Bagirmi Barein Bedjond Berakou Bernde Besme Bidiyo Birgit Bolgo Bon-Gula Boor Bua Buduma Buso Chadian Sign Language Dagba Daju-Dar Daju Dangaléat Day Dazaga Disa Fania Fongoro French Fulfulde-Adamawa Fulfulde-Bagirmi Fulfulde-Kano-Katsina-Bororro Fur Gabri Gadang Gidar Gor Goundo Gula Gula Iro Gulay Herdé Jaya Jonkor-Bourmataguil Kaba Kaba-Deme Kaba-Na Kabalai Kajakse Kanembu Kanuri-Central Karang Karanga Kendeje Kenga Kera Kibet Kim Kimré Koke Kujarge Kulfa Kuo Kwang Laal Lagwan Laka Lele Lutos Maba Mabire Majera Malgbe Mambai Mango Mararit Marba Marfa Masalit Masana Maslam Masmaje Massalat Mawa Mbara Mbay Mesme Migaama Miltu Mimi Mire Mogum Mpade Mser Mubi Mukulu Mundang Musey Naba Nancere Ndam Ngam Ngambay Ngete Niellim Noy Nzakambay Pana Pévé Runga Saba Sango Sar Sarua Sinyar Sokoro Somrai Surbakhal Tama Tamki Tedaga Tobanga Toram Tumak Tunia Tupuri Ubi Zaghawa Zan-Gula Zirenkel

 

Meaning of the country name:

Locally known in French as République du Tchad. Named for Lake Chad (or Tchad) in the country's southwest. The lake in turn got its name from the Bornu word tsade, "lake".

 

Description Flag:

The national flag of the Republic of Chad is a vertical tricolor consisting (left to right) of a blue, a yellow and a red field. The flag colors combine the colors of the flag of France with the traditional Pan-African colors.

Chad shares the same country flag as Romania, which has raised some minor complications. Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu has said his country will not give up its national flag despite the fact that it appears, to most observers at least, identical to that used by the central African state of Chad. His comments follow unconfirmed reports in the Romanian media that Chad has called on the UN to examine the issue.

The flags of the two countries converged as far back as 1989 when Romanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu, was overthrown and the incoming government dropped the communist-era insignia from the flag's center. While both flags have blue, yellow and red stripes, some experts say the blue colour in Chad's flag is darker than that used in Romania's version. But Mr Iliescu said there was no reason for Romanians to worry as Chad had only been an independent country since 1960.

"The tricolour belongs to us. We will not give up the tricolour," he said.

The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a press release that Romania had carried out the registration procedure called for by the Paris convention for the protection of industrial property in 1997. The procedure is administered by a specialized UN agency, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, which registers state symbols, official signs and seals. The Foreign Ministry said it had no knowledge of any claim being lodged against the registration within the required 12-month deadline. It added that it had received no official notification from Chad regarding any move to raise the issue with the UN and said it was currently investigating the reports carried by the Romanian media.

 

Coat of arms:

The Coat of Arms of Chad was adopted in 1970. The center has a shield with wavy blue lines, with a sun rising over it. The shield is supported by a goat and a lion. Below the shield is a medal and a scroll with the national motto in French. The wavy lines on the shield are representative of Lake Chad, and the sun rising over it represents a new beginning. The goat on the left represents the northern part of the nation, while the southern part is represented by the lion. Dangling from the bottom of the shield is the medal for the National Order of Chad.

 

Motto:

"Unité, Travail, Progrès"

 

National Anthem: La Tchadienne

 

Peuple Tchadien, debout et à l'ouvrage!

Tu as conquis la terre et ton droit;

Ta liberté naîtra de ton courage.

Lève les yeux, l'avenir est à Toi.

O mon Pays, que Dieu te prenne en garde,

Que tes voisins admirent tes enfants.

Joyeux, pacifique, avance en chantant,

Fidèle à tes anciens qui te regardent.

 

English

 

People of Chad, arise and take up the task!

You have conquered the soil and won your rights;

Your freedom will be born of your courage.

Lift up your eyes, the future is yours.

Oh, my Country, may God protect you,

May your neighbours admire your children.

Joyful, peaceful, advance as you sing,

Faithful to your fathers who are watching you.

 

Internet Page: www.primature-tchad.org

 

chad in diferent languages

 

eng | arg | ast | cor | dan | glg | ibo | jav | oci | que | sco | sme | spa | srd: Chad

bre | fra | hat | ina | jnf | swe | wln: Tchad

ces | dsb | hrv | hsb | slk | slv | szl: Čad

ita | lld | ron | rup | scn: Ciad

afr | fry | nld: Tsjaad

aze | crh | tuk: Çad / Чад

bam | kin | run: Cadi

deu | ltz | nds: Tschad / Tſchad

cat | eus: Txad

est | vor: Tšaad

ind | msa: Chad / چاد

isl | nor: Tsjad

kaa | uzb: Chad / Чад

bos: Čad / Чад

cym: Tsiad

epo: Ĉado

fao: Kjad

fin: Tšad / Tshad

frp: Tch•ad

fur: Çat

gla: An t-Siad

gle: Sead / Sead

glv: Shad

hau: Cadi; Chadi; Tchad

haw: Kada

hun: Csád

kmr: Çad / Ч’ад / چاد

kon: Tasadi

kur: Çad / چاد

lat: Tzadia

lav: Čada

lin: Tshadi

lit: Čadas

mlg: Tsada

mlt: Ċad

mol: Ciad / Чад

nrm: Tchade

pol: Czad

por: Chade

rmy: Čad / चाद

roh: Tschad

sag: Sâde

slo: Cxadia / Чадиа

smg: Čads

som: Jaad

sqi: Çadi

swa: Chadi

tet: Xade

tgl: Tsad

tur: Çat; Çad

vie: Sát

vol: Tjadän

wol: Cadd

zza: Çad

abq | alt | bul | che | chm | chv | kbd | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | mkd | mon | oss | rus | tyv | udm | ukr: Чад (Čad)

bak | tat: Чад / Çad

bel | srp: Чад / Čad

kaz: Чад / Çad / چاد

tgk: Чад / چد / Cad

ara: تشاد (Tišād)

fas: چاد (Čād)

prs: چاد (Čād)

pus: چاډ (Čāḋ); چاد (Čād)

uig: چاد / Chad / Чад

urd: چاڈ (Čāḋ)

div: ޗާޑް (Čāḋ)

syr: ܬܫܕ (Tšad)

heb: צ׳ד (Čad); צ׳אד (Čâd)

lad: ג'אד / Chad

yid: טשאַד (Tšad)

amh: ቻድ (Čad)

ell: Τσαντ (Tsant)

hye: Չադ (Č̣ad)

kat: ჩადი (Č̣adi)

hin | mar: चाड (Čāḍ)

ben: চাড (Čāḍ); চাদ (Čād)

guj: ચાડ (Čāḍ)

pan: ਚਾਡ (Čāḍ)

kan: ಚಾಡ್ (Čāḍ)

mal: ഛാഡ് (Čʰāḍ); ചാഡ് (Čāḍ)

tam: சாட் (Čāṭ)

tel: ఛాద్ (Čʰād)

zho: 乍得 (Zhàdé)

jpn: チャド (Chado)

kor: 차드 (Chadeu)

mya: ခ္ယဒ္ (Čaʿ)

tha: ชาด (Čʰāt)

khm: ឆាដ (Čʰād); ឆែត (Čʰæt)

 

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