Chad

From Toumaï and the Sahel empires to the heart of Africa

Chad straddles the Sahara, the Sahel and the wooded south, with Lake Chad as its ancient pivot. Its basin yielded Toumaï, a seven-million-year-old hominin, and nurtured the Sao culture and the great trans-Saharan empires of Kanem and Kanem-Bornu alongside the eastern sultanates of Baguirmi and Wadai. Conquered piecemeal by France, it became independent in 1960 and endured decades of civil war, conflict with Libya, and authoritarian rule under Hissène Habré and the Déby dynasty.