An Introduction to Chad
The area now known as Chad has been inhabited by significant numbers since the 7th millennium BC, and in the 1st millennium BC saw a series of states and empires rise and fall, focu'ed on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes. The territory became part of French Equatorial Africa by 1920 and in 1960 gained independence, but a long-lasting civil war began in 1965. In 1979 rebels from the Muslim north conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony, but they have continued to fight amongst themselves. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Africa
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GOVERNMENT: Republic
AREA: 1,284,000 sq km
POPULATION: 10,758,945 (July 2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: French, Arabic
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The area now known as Chad has been inhabited by significant numbers since the 7th millennium BC, and in the 1st millennium BC saw a series of states and empires rise and fall, focu'ed on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes. The territory became part of French Equatorial Africa by 1920 and in 1960 gained independence, but a long-lasting civil war began in 1965. In 1979 rebels from the Muslim north conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony, but they have continued to fight amongst themselves.
Recently, the Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilled over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees in camps in eastern Chad; and the UNHCR has warned that a genocide like that in Darfur may yet occur in the country, one of the poorest and most corrupt 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.
GDP: $17.36 billion (2010 est.) - $1,600 per capita (2010 est.) (PPP)
Religions Muslim 53.1%, Catholic 20.1%, Protestant 14.2%, animist 7.3%, other 0.5%, unknown 1.7%, atheist 3.1% (1993 census)
Currency: Central African Franc (XAF) - GBP 1 = XAF 746.25
Telephone Code: +235
The United Nations Human Development Index lists Chad as the seventh poorest country in the world - 80% of its population live below the poverty line. Years of civil war have scared away foreign investors and crippled the transport infrastructure, but since 2000 there has been major investment in the oil sector. The length of paved roads in the country has increased from just 30km in 1987 to 550km, but most roads remain unusable for much of the year and there is no rail network - Cameroon's railways are used to transport Chad's exports.
The great majority of the workforce is reliant on subsistence farming, while Chad's cities face serious infrastructure difficulties with only 48% of residents having access to potable water and only 2% to basic sanitation. There are only 14,000 fixed telephone lines in all of Chad - one of the lowest telephone densities in the world.
Oil, cattle, cotton and gum arabic were the main commodities exported from Chad in 2010 - $3.06bn dollars' worth were sent to the US (accounting for 89% of trade) and France. Imports totalling $2.6bn, mostly of machinery, industrial goods, food and textiles, came from countries including China, France, Cameroon, the US, Italy and the Ukraine.
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