Chad is an independent nation in Central Africa. With the capital city of N’Djamena, Chad 2020 population is estimated at 16,425,875 according to countryaah. Not much is known about Chad’s history before our times, but the area has been inhabited since the 6th century BC. The first known societies were founded more than a thousand years later.
Rock paintings in Borkou and Ennedi show that during the sixth century BC, northern Chad was part of an extensive settlement area from the Indus River in India to the Atlantic. At that time there was plenty of water in central Sahara and along the beaches were people who used the land. There were also animals such as elephants, rhinos and giraffes.
Through its geographical location, Chad has during history been an intersection of trade routes through the Sahara. Around these caravan trails were formed towards the end of the first century BC a number of rival small states. Most successful, many centuries later became the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu, founded in the 800s after Christ in the area that today constitutes western Chad.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Comprehensive guide to and popular abbreviations of Chad, covering history, economy, and social conditions.
At the end of the 11th century, the reigning monarch of Kanem had converted to Islam. The economy of the Muslim kingdoms was largely based on slave trade. The slaves were captured during raids south where the state formation was weak and where the population could not offer much resistance.
Under King Idris Alooma in the late 16th century, Kanem-Bornu expanded considerably. Alooma exercised a feudal empire in which land was granted to loyal warriors. He was a devoted Muslim who built mosques and changed traditional African justice to Islamic.
In the 19th century, France began to take an interest in the area. Towards the end of the century, the Sudanese conqueror Rabah took control of the Muslim kingdoms and formed a militarily strong state, which resisted the French. However, Rabah was defeated by the colonists in 1900. That same year, Chad became a French military territory and protection area, a so-called protectorate. It was incorporated in 1910 in the French Equatorial Africa colony which also included Gabon, Congo-Brazzavile and the Central African Republic. For Chad political system, please check cancermatters.
After World War II, the residents of French Equatorial Africa began to form political parties. Most important in Chad was Chad’s Progressive Party (PPT) with a base among cotton growers in the south. In 1958, Chad and the other colonies achieved the status of autonomous republics within the French Commonwealth of Africa. The country gained full independence in 1960, and PPT leader François Tombalbaye became Chad’s first president.
2011
April
President Déby reelected
Chad’s President Idriss Déby wins the presidential election with 89 percent of the vote. The election is boycotted by the main opposition politicians.
February
The ART alliance wins the election
In the parliamentary elections, the newly formed Alliance for Chad’s Rebirth (ART) wins, which includes President Déby’s party MPS. ART receives 132 of the 155 seats. The opposition complains of cheating but the election gets approved by EU observers.
