26 Facts About Chad

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa.

Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south.

In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of Francois Tombalbaye.

Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups d'etat.

French rule in Chad was characterised by an absence of policies to unify the territory and sluggish modernisation compared to other French colonies.

Related searches

The colonial administration in Chad was critically understaffed and had to rely on the dregs of the French civil service.

Chad was granted independence on 11 August 1960 with the PPT's leader, Francois Tombalbaye, an ethnic Sara, as its first president.

Disintegration of Chad caused the collapse of France's position in the country.

In May 2013, security forces in Chad foiled a coup against President Idriss Deby that had been in preparation for several months.

Chad is currently one of the leading partners in a West African coalition in the fight against Boko Haram and other Islamist militants.

Chad's army announced the death of Deby on 20 April 2021, following an incursion in the northern region by the FACT group, during which the president was killed amid fighting on the front lines.

Chad is, by size, slightly smaller than Peru and slightly larger than South 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.

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.

Chad had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.

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.

Chad is home to foreign missionaries representing both Christian and Islamic groups.

At 33 percent, Chad has one of the lowest literacy rates of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Chad's constitution provides for a strong executive branch headed by a president who dominates the political system.

Chad had the seventh-highest rank in the Fragile States Index in 2021.

The Movement for Justice and Democracy in Chad clashed with government forces in 2003 in an attempt to overthrow President Idriss Deby.

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 .

Chad is ranked last in the World Economic Forum's Network Readiness Index – an indicator for determining the development level of a country's information and communication technologies.

Chad ranked number 148 out of 148 overall in the 2014 NRI ranking, down from 142 in 2013.

Related searches

Music of Chad includes a number of instruments such as the kinde, a type of bow harp; the kakaki, a long tin horn; and the hu hu, a stringed instrument that uses calabashes as loudspeakers.