Chad

Capital: N'Djamena · Middle Africa

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa.

African Bush Elephant in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

Photo: Taken by Oliver Wright, Public domain · source

Cast of the Sahelanthropus tchadensis holotype cranium TM 266-01-060-1, dubbed Toumaï , in facio-lateral view. Specimen of the previous Molecular Anthropology and…

Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Souffleur du Kanem lors de la 2ème édition du Festival Dary au Tchad.

Photo: Fatakaya, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

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With over 200 ethnic and linguistic groups, the official languages are French and Arabic, with French being the lingua franca and language of government and education. Islam (55.1%) and Christianity (41.1%) are the main practiced religions.

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, humans 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 that passed through the region.

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Prayer time in front of the Fort Lamy mosque, now N'Djamena.

Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

weekly Camel market of Moussoro

Photo: Souguimia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Group of Kanem-Bu warriors. From The earth and its inhabitants, Africa , (published 1890-1893 [v.1, 1892]).

Photo: Elisee Reclus, Public domain · source

History

In the 7th millennium BC, ecological conditions in the northern half of Chadian territory favoured human settlement, and its population increased considerably. Some of the most important African archaeological sites are found in Chad, mainly in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region; some date to earlier than 2000 BC.

For more than 2,000 years, the Chad Basin has been inhabited by agricultural and sedentary people. The region became a crossroads of civilisations. The earliest of these was the legendary Sao, known from artefacts and oral histories.

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Mboum girls dancing in Chad

Photo: Francisbbk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

The Embassy of Chad located at 2401 Massachusetts Avenue NW in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. From 1957 until 2002, the building served as the…

Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Criquets fris du Tchad

Photo: Fatakaya, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Geography

Chad is a landlocked country spanning north-central Africa. It covers an area of 1,284,000 square kilometres (496,000 sq mi), lying between latitudes 7° and 24°N, and 13° and 24°E, and is the twentieth-largest country in the world. It 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 capital is 1,060 kilometres (660 mi) from the nearest seaport, Douala, Cameroon. Because of this distance from the sea and the largely desert climate, Chad is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".

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Girafe solitaire à zakouma

Photo: Fatakaya, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Government and politics

Under the constitution adopted following the 2023 Chadian constitutional referendum, Chad is a presidential republic with a strong executive branch headed by the president, who dominates the political system. The incumbent president is Mahamat Déby. The president has the power to appoint the prime minister and the cabinet and exercises considerable influence over appointments of judges, generals, provincial officials, and heads of para-statal firms. In cases of grave and immediate threat, the president, in consultation with the National Assembly, may declare a state of emergency.

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Demographics

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 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. The life expectancy is 52 years. The agency assessed the population as of 2026 at 20,031,602.

The population is unevenly distributed.

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Economy

The United Nations' Human Development Index ranks Chad as the seventh poorest country in the world, with 80% of the population living below the poverty line. The GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita was estimated as US$1,651 in 2009. Chad is part of the Bank of Central African States, the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa and the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).

Currency is the CFA franc. In the 1960s, the mining industry of Chad produced sodium carbonate, or natron.

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Culture

Because of its great social diversity, Chad possesses a rich cultural heritage. The government has actively promoted culture and traditions by opening the Chad National Museum and the Chad Cultural Centre. Six national holidays are observed throughout the year, and additional holidays include the Christian holiday of Easter Monday and the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Mawlid.

As in other Sahelian countries, literature in Chad has seen an economic, political and spiritual drought that has affected its best known writers.

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