Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa with a population of 19 million. It is the fifth-largest country in Africa. Chad is estimated to be one of the areas for where the human species originated. The area which is now known as Chad has a long and complicated history. From the cradle of humankind to African Empires, this diversity shaped the history of Chad.
Chad has several regions: the Sahara desert in the north, an arid zone in the centre known as the Sahel, and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland in Africa. Chad's official languages are Arabic and French with most education and state documents being in French. It is home to over 200 ethnic and linguistic groups.
Journey through time: A historical tour of ancient Chad
Early History and Ancient Kingdoms
Some argue that Chad is one of several potential sites for the cradle of humankind in Africa. The discovery of a 6 to 7 million year old hominid like skull, now known as the Sahelanthropus tchadensis skull substantiates this claim. More recent human settlement in the area is estimated to have happened in the last 10 000 years. It is assumed that 7 000 BCE the region was not as arid as it is today; this is also the period in which we see definite proof of permanent human settlement.
People lived and farmed around the shores of lakes in the north central basin of the Sahara. Pastoralism became a common mode of production at around 5000 BCE. After 3000 BCE the first trans-Saharan trade route was established through Chad. It is from around this time, that we can see traces of one of the first prominent distinctive groups of people in Chad, the Sao nation. The Sao people are famous for their fortified walled cities.
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Engraving of an elephant, Bubalus or Cattle period; in Bardai, Chad.
The Kanem-Borno Empire
It was a central part of some of Africa's greatest Empires such as the Kanem-Borno, which originated in the south western part of Chad. Between 700 and 900 CE the Kanembu emerged as a regional power in Chad, and displaced the Sao people from power. The Kanembu people brought with them knowledge of iron works and improved agriculture. Historians argue that these technological advances would lead to the formation of a more centralised Kingdom; which is sometimes referred to as the Kanembu Kingdom.
Later Islamic scholars would describe the Kingdom first as the Duguwa Kingdom, and then, after a rebellion by court officials, as the Sayfuwa Kingdom, so named after the two different ruling dynasties. Some scholars trace the first Duguwa Kings all the way back to 700 CE. Yet both the names refers to the Kanem Kingdom, but ruled by different dynasties. Around 1 000 CE Berber's, and traders displaced from West Africa by conflict brought Islam to the Kanembu. The religion was quickly adopted by various court officials and nobles. The foreign Berbers and the local court officials saw Islam as a greater principle to organise the various anti-Duguwa factions around, and overthrew the Duguwa dynasty.
Officially the Duguwa kings lost their power to the Sayfuwa in 1068, but it is estimated that they had lost much of their real power some years prior. Less than 200 years later, because of internal conflict surrounding religious practice, the Sayfuwa dynasty was displaced by the Bulala people from Kanembu, and moved west to found the state of Borno. It is estimated that the Sayfuwa was firmly established in Borno by the mid 1300s. With the same ruling dynasty and similar traditions there was a clear continuation between the Kamen and Borno Kingdoms.
By the mid 1400s the Sayfuwa kings of the Borno state founded the new capital city of Gazargamo. Some years after the founding of the new capital the Borno state attacked and conquered their old capital in Kamen from the Bulala people. During their stay in Borno the Sayfuwa kings had adopted many popular customs from the Sao people who had resided there since the 900s. With the unification of the two states of Borno and Kamen in the mid 1500s, and the inclusion of several different peoples (Bulala, Sao, Berber's, Kanembu, and more), the Kamen-Borno Empire was born.
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The Tubu people who lived in the northern part of the Kanem Kingdom became independent as the Kanem-Borno Empire did not manage to exert authority over them, which the previous Kanem Kingdom had held. The Kanem-Borno Empire reached its height under Mai (local word for King) Idris Alooma (1580-1619). At this point the Empire was directly ruling over both the Kanem and Borno Kingdoms and receiving tribute from the far away Ouaddai and Darfur Kingdoms.
The peoples living around lake Chad at around 1000 CE.
Other Empires and Kingdoms
The 1400s - 1800s was an era where several Empires would conquer and rule various parts of the area which now constitutes modern day Chad. Most notable of these Empires were the Kamen-Bornu, Baguirmi, and Ouaddai. Ouaddai (sometimes written as Wadai) was to the east of Kamen-Borno, and Baguirmi was to the north-west. All three empires converted to Islam at one point or another. The Ouaddai Kingdom was founded in the late 1500s by the Arab-speaking Tunjur people. The Ouaddai Kingdom reached its height when it conquered the Bagurimi Kingdom somewhere between 1611 and 1635 CE.
The Bagurimi Kingdom was also established in the 1500s, but soon after its founding it went into a period of decline, and the capital city of Massenya was burned several times over the next two centuries. The Kingdom would recover however, and reach new heights of power in the 1800s.
Slavery in Pre-Colonial Chad
Slavery was also a common practice in the three major states which dominated pre-colonial Chad. By the mid 1700s the area where the Baguirmi Empire was had become one of the most important sources of slaves for the trans-Saharan trade. A large part of these slaves would be sent across the Atlantic as part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Baguirmi captured slaves through conquest, but after losing several wars to the Kamen-Borno and Ouaddai Empires they were themselves subjected to slavery.
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Social and Political Structures
The southern part of Chad was largely populated by a series of less centralised political and social groups. Groups of elders or a village council would make decisions, and who made up these councils would often change. While in the north people were organised in larger more centralised entities with a hierarchical power structure, the south were looser knit political structures mainly engaged in agricultural activities. While the north was religiously unified under Islam, the south practised a variety of religions and rituals. The northern Kingdoms, especially the Bagurimi Kingdom, would often raid and pillage the southern part to capture slaves.
This is a history which still creates tensions between the north and the south of Chad today.
Rabah Zubair Fadlallah and the End of the Northern Kingdoms
Warriors of Rabah Zubair Fadlallah
Rabah Zubair Fadlallah (1840 -1900 CE) was born a slave, but gained his freedom (and fame) when he served in the army of Zubair Rahama Mansur al-Abbasi in south-east Ouaddai. Rabah later became a warlord and a a slave trader himself, and ruler of most of northern Chad. He would go on to conquer Ouaddai in the 1880s, burn Massenya and conquer Baguirmi in 1893, and had taken complete control of Borno by 1894. After this he took the title Emir of the faithful, and established the capital city of Dikwa, south of Lake Chad.
During the period between 1880 and 1900 the Rabah Fadlallah took control of most of the northern part of the area now known as Chad. They would in turn enlist much of the local tribes’ sons into their forces. Particularly noble sons were taken into the Rabih army as hostages to secure the loyalty of local chiefs. It was at this time, during the conquest of Rabah, that the French began to send expeditionary forces to bring the area into its colonial Empire.
Rabah would often harass these expeditionary forces, and sometimes came into direct combat with them. In 1891 he fought the expeditionary force of French Lieutenant Paul Crampel (Crampel was killed two years later by Sultan al Sanussi of Dar Kuti). In 1899 Rabah won a battle against the French and killed Lieutenant Bretonnet and most of his men. This defeat made the French increase their efforts into conquering Chad, and sent out three columns to converge on Lake Chad. Rabah set up his defence outside the town of Kousséri, and was defeated by the French in the battle which ensued. The story goes on and states that the French decapitated Rabah and dispalyed his head for all to see.
Rabah Fadlallah is seen as an African hero by many because of his staunch opposition to the French conquest. Some also seem him as a pan-Africanist, as he was in a process of uniting the various Kingdoms and political entities which ruled at the time.
Colonial Occupation
In the early 20th century Chad became a French colony and later gained its independence in 1960. It was the French colonial period which saw the formation of Chad as a nation state. The colonial conquest of Chad by the French Empire was a long and arduous endeavour. As mentioned above there was great fighting between the French and Rabah, which would only come to an end in 1900. In 1905 after much loss of lives the Kanem were subdued, and on June 13, 1909 the Ouaddai lost their capital city of Abeche. Several smaller political entities and Kingdoms were conquered during the next ten years, and lastly the Tubu people surrendered in 1920. The French set up their colonial administration in the city of N'djamena.
The French initially placed control of the region under a governor-general in Brazzaville (Congo), but in 1910 Chad was joined to the larger federation of Afrique Équatoriale Française (AEF, French Equatorial Africa). Chad was one of the most neglected of the French colonies. Almost no investment was made in infrastructure or economic development during the French occupation. Only after the conquest of the Tubu in 1920 did Chad get a civilian government. On November 11, 1929, Tibesti changed hands from the colonial administration of Niger to that of Chad.
The forced recruitment of local recruitment of soldiers was a major issue in the Chad colony, and there were several incidents were towns physically fought colonial recruiters. One such incident ended in one recruiter being held hostage, while his guard was castrated. Another central form of exploitation in the Chad Colony was that of forced labour. There were three types of forced labour. The Chad colony had three types of obligations for providing forced labour. The first was that any administrator could ask any African, at any time, to work for private companies or for the government. Secondly, government projects deemed as “an emergency” could call upon Africans to work without compensation. Thirdly the colonial authorities could extract work from prisoners.
The lack of French civil administrators willing to work in Chad, made the colonial authorities greatly dependant on local leaders for the keeping order in the colony. So these orders for forced labour were in the final instance ordered and executed by local leaders, often referred to as “canton chiefs”. The recruiters would use tactics such as theft of food and livestock, kidnapping hostages, and the burning of houses and crops, to coerce people who refused to join the forced labour. The largest forced labour project was the railway from Point-Noire to Brazzaville. 120 000 Africans and 600 Chinese workers were coerced into forced labour to complete the project. An estimated 10 000 workers would die before the railway was finished.
The Chad Colony was a brutal place to live for the local people. There was the obviously exploitative forced labour system, and on top of that, as a general rule, any European could order any African to become a porter at any time. As if this was not enough famines were commonplace in the colony, and the colonial administration would constantly exacerbate the effects of the famines even as they were “attempting” to avert them. An estimated 30 000 people died from hunger between 1913 and 1918 alone.
There was also a tax system known as the “head tax” system. Parts of the tax had to be paid in currency which forced Chadians into becoming workers in the colonial economy and violence and coercion was often used when the colonial administration collected the tax. Chadians made many attempts at resisting tax collection, and the French authorities would reply with severe and violent retribution. The most violent incident in relation to tax collection was in Bouna in the south of Chad. In 1928 the local chief who was in charge of collecting taxes in the area decided to charge double tax, and the Bouna people refused to pay. The French authorities then responded by sending armed forces to “stop the incidents of tax evasion and revolt”. The French troops proceeded to kill an estimated 5 000 adults, slaughtering the domestic animals, and burning most of the canton. It is said that only women and children were left alive.
In 1939 Chad contributed greatly to the French war effort in World War II. It was for instance one of the first regions to declare itself as part of “Free France” after the French government surrendered to Germany in 1940.
The end of World War II would also mark the end of some of the harshest colonial policies. Forced labour was abolished and political parties were legalised in 1946. Although there would be two separate voting systems and a lack of universal suffrage until 1956. Two political parties would dominate the struggle for independence from France, the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT) and Chadian Democratic Union (UDT). The two parties came to represent the regional divisions which existed in Chad as a French colony, UDT catered to the Muslim population, while PPT had its support base in the southern part of the country. While UDT and PPT were the two largest parties, the period between 1946 and 1959 was marked by a fight for power between a variety of different parties in Chad, all representing various religious, cultural and regional interests.
Post-Independence Chad
In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François Tombalbaye. Post-colonial Chad was marred by both a small scale war with Libya and a protracted internal conflict from 1966 to the 1990s. After clashes around the border with Darfur, in Sudan, a limited conflict between the two countries followed in 2005. Later this limited engagement would expand to a five year long internal conflict which ended in January 2010.
Chad Today
Chad is a large landlocked country spanning north-central Africa. 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 dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north and east by the Ennedi Plateau and Tibesti Mountains, which include Emi Koussi, a dormant volcano that reaches 3,414 metres (11,201 ft) above sea level.
Chad is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: East Sudanian savanna, Sahelian Acacia savanna, Lake Chad flooded savanna, East Saharan montane xeric woodlands, South Saharan steppe and woodlands, and Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands. The region's tall grasses and extensive marshes make it favourable for birds, reptiles, and large mammals. 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. 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.
Chad's animal and plant life correspond to the three climatic zones. In the Saharan region, the only flora is the date-palm groves of the oasis. Palms and acacia trees grow in the Sahelian region. The southern, or Sudanic, zone consists of broad grasslands or prairies suitable for grazing. Elephants, lions, buffalo, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, giraffes, antelopes, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and many species of snakes are found here, although most large carnivore populations have been drastically reduced since the early 20th century. Elephant poaching, particularly in the south of the country in areas such as Zakouma National Park, is a severe problem.
Chad's national statistical agency projected the country's 2015 population between 13,630,252 and 13,679,203, with 13,670,084 as its medium projection; based on the medium projection, 3,212,470 people lived in urban areas and 10,457,614 people lived in rural areas. The country's population is young: an estimated 47% is under 15. The birth rate is estimated at 42.35 births per 1,000 people, and the mortality rate at 16.69. Chad's population is unevenly distributed. Density is 0.1/km2 (0.26/sq mi) in the Saharan Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region but 52.4/km2 (136/sq mi) in the Logone Occidental Region. Urban life is concentrated in the capital, whose population is mostly engaged in commerce. The other major towns are Sarh, Moundou, Abéché and Doba, which are considerably smaller but growing rapidly in population and economic activity. Since 2003, 230,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to eastern Chad from war-ridden Darfur.
Polygamy is common, with 39% of women living in such unions. This is sanctioned by law, which automatically permits polygamy unless spouses specify that this is unacceptable upon marriage. Although violence against women is prohibited, domestic violence is common. Female genital mutilation is also prohibited, but the practice is widespread and deeply rooted in tradition; 45% of Chadian women undergo the procedure, with the highest rates among Arabs, Hadjarai, and Ouaddaians (90% or more). Lower percentages were reported among the Sara (38%) and the Toubou (2%). Women lack equal opportunities in education and training, making it difficult for them to compete for the relatively few formal-sector jobs.
The peoples of Chad carry significant ancestry from Eastern, Central, Western, and Northern Africa. Chad has more than 200 distinct ethnic groups, which create diverse social structures. The colonial administration and independent governments have attempted to impose a national society, but for most Chadians the local or regional society remains the most important influence outside the immediate family. In the south live sedentary people such as the Sara, the nation's main ethnic group, whose essential social unit is the lineage. In the Sahel, sedentary peoples live side by side with nomadic ones, such as the Arabs, the country's second major ethnic group. Chad's official languages are Arabic and French, with over a 100 regional languages being spoken in the country. The Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic language family gets its name from Chad, and is represented by dozens of languages native to the country.
Chad is a religiously diverse country. Various estimates, including from Pew Research in 2010, found that 52-58% of the population was Muslim, while 39-44% were Christian, with 22% being Catholic and a further 17% being Protestant. According to a 2012 Pew Research survey, 48% of Muslim Chadians professed to be Sunni, 21% Shia, 4% Ahmadi and 23% non-denominational Muslim. Islam is expressed in diverse ways; for example, 55% of Muslim Chadians belong to Sufi orders. Catholics represent the largest Christian denomination in the country. Most Protestants, including the Nigeria-based "Winners' Chapel", are affiliated with various evangelical Christian groups. Members of the Baháʼí and Jehovah's Witnesses religious communities also are present in the country. A small proportion of the population continues to practice indigenous religions.
Chad's cultural heritage is a source of pride and identity for its people, serving as a reminder of the country’s rich history and diversity. Throughout the year, Chad celebrates a variety of cultural festivals and ceremonies that showcase the country’s rich heritage and traditions. One such festival is the Gerewol Festival, celebrated by the Wodaabe people in the Sahel region. Another significant event is the N’Djamena International Cultural Festival, held annually in the capital city.
Music and dance play a central role in Chadian culture, serving as expressions of joy, sorrow, and solidarity. Traditional Chadian music encompasses a wide range of styles and instruments, including the ardin (harp), kakaki (trumpet), and balafon (xylophone).
Chad is home to a diverse array of religious beliefs, including Islam, Christianity, and indigenous African religions. Religious practices and ceremonies play an important role in the lives of many Chadians, providing opportunities for communal worship, reflection, and celebration.
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Ethnic Groups | Over 200 distinct ethnic groups, including Sara, Arabs, Kanembu, and Fulani |
| Languages | Arabic and French (official), over 100 regional languages |
| Religion | Islam (52-58%), Christianity (39-44%), Indigenous religions |
| Traditions | Respect for elders, hospitality, oral tradition |
| Cultural Events | Gerewol Festival, N’Djamena International Cultural Festival |
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