{"id":3990,"date":"2020-01-11T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=3990"},"modified":"2019-11-16T19:50:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T19:50:20","slug":"chad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/chad\/","title":{"rendered":"Chad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Chad, officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in north-central Africa. It is bordered by Libya<\/a> to the north, Sudan <\/a>to the east, the Central African Republic<\/a> to the south, Cameroon<\/a> and Nigeria<\/a> to the southwest, and Niger<\/a> to the west.<\/p>\n

Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian<\/a> belt in the center and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna<\/a> zone in the south. Lake Chad<\/a>, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second-largest in Africa. The capital N’Djamena<\/a> is the largest city. Chad’s official languages are Arabic and French. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. The most popular religion of Chad is Islam (at 55%), followed by Christianity (at 40%).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chad on the Globe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium AD, a series of states and empires had risen and fallen in Chad’s Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes<\/a> that passed through the region.<\/p>\n

France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa<\/a>. In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of Fran\u00e7ois Tombalbaye<\/a>. 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. But, the rebel commanders fought among themselves until Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9<\/a> defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in turn in 1990 by his general Idriss D\u00e9by<\/a>. Since 2003 the Darfur crisis<\/a> in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation<\/a>. Poor already, the nation and people struggled to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees who live in and around camps in eastern Chad.<\/p>\n

While many political parties are active, power lies firmly in the hands of President D\u00e9by and his political party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement<\/a>. Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups d’\u00e9tat. Chad is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world; most inhabitants 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.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

In the 7th millennium BCE, 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<\/a>; some date to earlier than 2000 BCE.<\/p>\n

For more than 2,000 years, the Chadian Basin has been inhabited by agricultural and sedentary people. The region became a crossroads of civilizations. The earliest of these were the legendary Sao<\/a>, known from artifacts and oral histories.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sao Artifacts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sao fell to the Kanem Empire<\/a>, the first and longest-lasting of the empires that developed in Chad’s Sahelian strip by the end of the 1st millennium AD. Two other states in the region, Sultanate of Bagirmi<\/a> and Wadai Empire<\/a> emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries. 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. In Kanem, about a third of the population were slaves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kanem Warriors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a> was characterized by an absence of policies to unify the territory and sluggish modernization compared to other French colonies.<\/p>\n

The French primarily viewed the colony as an unimportant source of untrained labor 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 Sara<\/a> of the south was governed effectively; French presence in the Islamic north and east was nominal. The educational system was affected by this neglect.<\/p>\n

After World War II, France granted Chad the status of overseas territory<\/a> and its inhabitants the right to elect representatives to the National Assembly<\/a> and a Chadian assembly<\/a>. The largest political party was the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT)<\/a>, based in the southern half of the colony. Chad was granted independence on 11 August 1960 with the PPT’s leader, Sara Fran\u00e7ois Tombalbaye, as its first president.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chadian Soldier in WWII<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years later, Tombalbaye banned opposition parties and established a one-party system. Tombalbaye’s autocratic rule and insensitive mismanagement exacerbated inter-ethnic tensions. In 1965, Muslims in the north, led by the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT)<\/a>, began a civil war. Tombalbaye was overthrown and killed in 1975<\/a>, but the insurgency continued. In 1979 the rebel factions led by Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9 took the capital, and all central authority in the country collapsed. Armed factions, many from the north’s rebellion, contended for power.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. Libya’s adventure ended in disaster in 1987<\/a>; the French-supported president, Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9, evoked a united response from Chadians of a kind never seen before and forced the Libyan army off Chadian soil.<\/p>\n

Habr\u00e9 consolidated his dictatorship through a power system that relied on corruption and violence with thousands of people estimated to have been killed under his rule. The president favored his own Toubou<\/a> ethnic group and discriminated against his former allies, the Zaghawa<\/a>. His general, Idriss D\u00e9by<\/a>, overthrew him in 1990. Attempts to prosecute Habr\u00e9 led to his placement under house arrest in Senegal in 2005; in 2013, Habr\u00e9 was formally charged with war crimes committed during his rule. In May 2016, he was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including rape, sexual slavery, and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, and sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

D\u00e9by attempted to reconcile the rebel groups and reintroduced multiparty politics. Chadians approved a new constitution by referendum, and in 1996, D\u00e9by 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. D\u00e9by unilaterally modified the constitution to remove the two-term limit on the presidency; this caused an uproar among the civil society and opposition parties.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Idriss D\u00e9by<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2006 D\u00e9by won a third mandate in elections that the opposition boycotted. Ethnic violence in eastern Chad has increased; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees<\/a> has warned that a genocide like that in Darfur may yet occur in Chad. In 2006 and in 2008<\/a> rebel forces attempted to take the capital by force, but on both occasions failed. An agreement for the restoration of harmony between Chad and Sudan, signed 15 January 2010, marked the end of a five-year war. The fix in relations led to the Chadian rebels from Sudan returning home, the opening of the border between the two countries after seven years of closure, and the deployment of a joint force to secure the border. In May 2013, security forces in Chad foiled a coup against President Idriss Deby that had been in preparation for several months.<\/p>\n

Chad is currently one of the leading partners in a West African coalition<\/a> in the fight<\/a> against Boko Haram<\/a>. Chad has also been included on Presidential Proclamation 9645, the expanded version of United States president Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13780<\/a>, which restricts entry by nationals from 8 countries, including Chad, into the US. This move has angered the Chadian government.<\/p>\n

Geography:<\/h2>\n

Chad is divided into three distinct zones, the Sudanian Savanna in the south, the Sahara Desert in the north, and the Sahelian belt in the center.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Satellite Image of Chad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 1,284,000 square kilometers (496,000 sq mi), Chad is the world’s 22nd-largest country. It is slightly smaller than Peru<\/a> and slightly larger than South Africa<\/a>. Chad is in north central Africa.<\/p>\n

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 kilometers (660 mi) from the nearest seaport, Douala, Cameroon. Because of this distance from the sea and the country’s largely desert climate, Chad is sometimes referred to as the “Dead Heart of Africa”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lake Chad Shrinking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north and east by the Ennedi Plateau<\/a> and Tibesti Mountains<\/a>, which include Emi Koussi<\/a>, a dormant volcano that reaches 3,414 meters (11,201 ft) above sea level. Lake Chad, after which the country is named (and which in turn takes its name from the Kanuri<\/a> word for “lake”), is the remains of an immense lake that occupied 330,000 square kilometers (130,000 sq mi) of the Chad Basin<\/a> 7,000 years ago. Although in the 21st century it covers only 17,806 square kilometers (6,875 sq mi), and its surface area is subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations, the lake is Africa’s second largest wetland.<\/p>\n

The region’s tall grasses and extensive marshes make it favorable for birds, reptiles, and large mammals. Chad’s major rivers\u2014the Chari<\/a>, Logone<\/a> and their tributaries\u2014flow through the southern savannas from the southeast into Lake Chad.<\/p>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n

The United Nations’ Human Development Index<\/a> ranks Chad as the seventh poorest country in the world, with 80% of the population living below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

Chad’s currency is the CFA franc<\/a>. In the 1960s, the mining industry of Chad produced sodium carbonate<\/a>, or natron. There have also been reports of gold-bearing quartz in the Biltine Prefecture<\/a>. However, years of civil war have scared away foreign investors; those who left Chad between 1979 and 1982 have only recently begun to regain confidence in the country’s future. In 2000 major direct foreign investment in the oil sector began, boosting the country’s economic prospects.<\/p>\n

An uneven inclusion into the global political economy as a site for colonial resource extraction (primarily cotton and crude oil), a global economic system that does not promote nor encourage the development of Chadian industrialization, and the failure to support local agricultural production has meant that the majority of Chadians live in daily uncertainty and hunger. Over 80% of Chad’s population relies on subsistence farming and livestock raising for its livelihood. The crops grown and the locations of herds are determined by the local climate. In the southernmost 10% of the territory lies the nation’s most fertile cropland, with rich yields of sorghum and millet. In the Sahel only the hardier varieties of millet grow, and these with much lower yields than in the south. On the other hand, the Sahel is ideal pastureland for large herds of commercial cattle and for goats, sheep, donkeys and horses. The Sahara’s scattered oases support only some dates and legumes. Chad’s cities face serious difficulties of municipal infrastructure; only 48% of urban residents have access to potable water and only 2% to basic sanitation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chad Export Map<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before the development of oil industry, cotton dominated industry and the labor market accounted for approximately 80% of export earnings. Cotton remains a primary export, although exact figures are not available. Rehabilitation of Cotontchad<\/a>, a major cotton company weakened by a decline in world cotton prices, has been financed by France, the Netherlands, the European Union, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)<\/a>. The parastatal<\/a> is now expected to be privatized. Other than cotton, cattle and gum arabic<\/a> are dominant.<\/p>\n

According to the United Nations, Chad has been affected by a humanitarian crisis since at least 2001. As of 2008, the country of Chad hosts over 280,000 refugees from the Sudan’s Darfur region, over 55,000 from the Central African Republic, as well as over 170,000 internally displaced persons. In February 2008 in the aftermath of the battle of N’Djamena, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes<\/a> expressed “extreme concern” that the crisis would have a negative effect on the ability of humanitarians to deliver life-saving assistance to half a million beneficiaries, most of whom \u2013 according to him \u2013 heavily rely on humanitarian aid for their survival. UN spokesperson Maurizio Giuliano<\/a> stated to The Washington Post<\/a>: “If we do not manage to provide aid at sufficient levels, the humanitarian crisis might become a humanitarian catastrophe”. In addition, organizations such as Save the Children<\/a> have suspended activities due to killings of aid workers.<\/p>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n

Civil war crippled the development of transport infrastructure; in 1987, Chad had only 30 kilometers (19 mi) of paved roads. Successive road rehabilitation projects improved the network to 550 kilometers (340 mi) by 2004. Nevertheless, the road network is limited; roads are often unusable for several months of the year. With no railways of its own, Chad depends heavily on Cameroon’s rail system for the transport of Chadian exports and imports to and from the seaport of Douala.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
N’Djamena International Airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of 2013 Chad had an estimated 59 airports, only 9 of which had paved runways. An international airport<\/a> serves the capital and provides regular nonstop flights to Paris and several African cities.<\/p>\n

Flag of Chad:<\/h2>\n

The flag of Chad is a vertical tricolor consisting (left to right) of a blue, a gold and a red column. These were intended to be a combination of the colors of blue, white and red as seen on the Flag of France<\/a> with the Pan-African<\/a> colors of green, yellow and red. Furthermore, the blue represents the sky and hope; the gold is the sun and desert, and the red signifies the bloodshed over independence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Flag of Chad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flag was adopted by law no. 59\/13 for the autonomous republic and retained on independence in 1960, and in the constitution of 1962. Despite many political upheavals within Chad since independence, the flag has not been changed. This may be because the flag is not associated with any of the main power rivals within Chad, which had no sense of national identity before independence, and little after independence.<\/p>\n

The flag of Chad is almost identical to the national flag of Romania<\/a>, although the colors in Chad flags may vary more than those specified for Romania<\/a>. Romania has used the flag since 1866, which appeared for the first time in its current form in Wallachia<\/a>, being officially in use in 1848. Chad began to use its present flag in 1960, after it achieved independence from France<\/a>. When Chad adopted its flag, Romania’s flag was different: it used to feature an insignia in the middle of the flag on top of the tricolor; this was added after World War II<\/a> during the Communist era<\/a> of the second half of the 20th century. But in 1989 Romania’s Communist government was overthrown<\/a> and the insignia was removed, reverting Romania’s flag to the prewar version which matched the one which had been adopted by Chad in the meantime.<\/p>\n

The issue of Romania and Chad sharing similar flags has concerned the Chadian government on occasion; they requested in 2004 that the United Nations<\/a> should consider it an issue. In response, Romanian President Ion Iliescu<\/a> said to the media, “The tricolor belongs to us. We will not give up the tricolor.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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