Chad was a part of the French colonial empire from 1900 to 1960. Colonial rule under the French began in 1900 when the Military Territory of Chad was established. From 1905, Chad was linked to the federation of French colonial possessions in Middle Africa, known from 1910 under the name of French Equatorial Africa. Chad passed in 1920 to French civilian administration, but suffered from chronic neglect.
Governor-General Félix Éboué welcomes Charles de Gaulle to Chad
Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is an independent state at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. The landlocked country is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Chad has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena. With a total area of around 1,284,000 km2, Chad is the fifth-largest country in Africa and the twentieth largest nation by area in the world.
Group of Kanem-Bu warriors. The Kanem–Bornu Empire controlled almost all of what is today Chad.
A Chadian soldier fighting for Free France during World War II. The Free French Forces included 15,000 soldiers from Chad.
Despite internal political opposition, coup attempts, and a civil war, Idriss Déby continuously ruled Chad from 1990 until his death in 2021.
Chad is divided into three distinct zones, the Sudanian Savanna in the south, the Sahara Desert in the north, and the Sahelian belt in the center.