Tchad

How is the land laid out?

The north of Tchad¹ is in the Sahara² Desert. In the south is the Sahel³, scrubland supporting grazing transitioning to--where not farmed--taller grasses with--in the far south--scattered trees.

In the northwest are the Tibesti Mountains. Just north of the Sahel is the Bodele Depression fronted by the Erg (drift sand) of Djourab. Beyond the erg are the Ennedi Mountains, bounded north by the Depression of Mourdi. There are several highlands in the southeast, and the plateau lands also rise somewhat in the southwest.

In between is the Chari River sytem and--further north--the seasonal Batha system, which flows into Lake Fitri. The Chari flows into Lake Chad, once Africa's third largest lake, and receives the Logone on its left.

Who lives there?

In the north, most people speak Dazoga, a Nilo-Saharan language. Nearer Lake Chad most people speak Shuwa Spoken Arabic, and there and elsewhere in Tchad many more learn it. In the southeast, no one language predominates; Nilo-Saharan languages as a group constitute the majority. In the southwest, Sara, another Nilo-Saharan language⁴, is native to the majority.

The north is majority Moslem; the south is diverse and statistics about it are controversial. Christians are a significant minority; Moslems more so. Animists practice traditional ways--honoring ancestors, placating spirits, initiating young men and recognizing a deus otiosus. Even if these are a minority of self-identified believers, the folk ways creep into the two non-local religions.

Njamena, the capital, has 1.3 million metropolitan residents; about three-fourths of a million in the city proper. No other city comes close. It sits where the Logone River joins the Chari, on the Cameroon⁵ border.

Prefectures

Kanem and Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti prefectures
Lake and Chari-Baguirmi prefectures
Logone-East, Mayo-Kebbi, Logone-West, Tandjile and Middle-Chari prefectures
Batha, Biltine, Guera, Oudaddai and Salamat prefectures

Other broad topics

Africa

Footnotes

1. Chad in English.
2. Sahara means 'wilderness' in Arabic.
3. Sahel means 'shore' in Arabic.
4. Or dialect group.
5. Cameroun in French.