Chad

Chad (Arabic: تشاد ; French: Tchad), officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It borders 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 zones: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian 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 The highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and the largest city by far is NDjamena, the capital. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. French and Arabic are the official languages.

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. The region became the crossroads of civilizations, beginning with the legendary Sao. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chads 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. The Christians and animists of southern Chad judged his policies favourably, but Muslims in the north resented them. In 1965 a long-lasting civil war erupted. In 1979 the rebels conquered the capital and put an end to the souths hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselves, and foreign governments, especially Libya and France, intervened. The Chadian-Libyan conflict erupted in 1978 and lasted until 1987, when the warlord Hissène Habré defeated Libya and reunited Chad. Three years later Habré was overthrown by one of his forme>Déby has made overtures towards political pluralism, but power lies firmly in the hands of the president and his political party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Déby unilaterally modified the constitution in 2005 to further strengthen his control. Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups détat. The Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and only further destabilised Chad. Chad is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in Africa; most Chadians live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers.