查德(Chad)

法语作Tchad

非洲中北部共和国。面积1,284,000平方公里。人口约8,707,000（2001）。首都︰恩贾梅纳。萨拉人是最大的种族集团，约占全国人口的1/4，其他种族集团包括巴吉尔米人、邦戈人、拉卡人、姆布姆人、坦加勒人、布杜马、库里和卡嫩巴人。阿拉伯人部落众多，虽分散各地，但属同一种族。语言︰阿拉伯语和法语（官方语），以及一百多种语言和方言。宗教：伊斯兰教、万物有灵论、天主教、新教。货币︰非洲金融共同体法郎（CFAF）。查德状似浅盆，以查德湖为起点地势逐渐升高。查德湖盆地四周山岭环绕，北有提贝斯提火山，其中的库西山高达3,415公尺。盆地最低处为朱拉卜洼地，海拔175公尺。查德的河流网只有沙里河和洛贡河及它们的支流，流向东南注入查德湖。经济以农业为主。政府形式是共和国，一立法机关。国家元首是总统，政府首脑为总理。

西元800年左右卡内姆王国建立，13世纪的头十年，卡内姆王国扩张版图，形成新的卡内姆－博尔努王国。16世纪该王国控制了穿越撒哈拉至的黎波里商队路线的南端终点站，达到顶峰。此时，其对手巴吉尔米王国及瓦达伊王国发展很快。1883～1893年三王国均落入苏丹冒险家拉比赫.祖拜尔征服。1891年拉比赫被法国人推翻。法国人扩张他们的势力，1910年查德成为法属赤道非洲的一部分。1920年查德单独成立殖民地。1946年成为法国的海外领地。1960年获得完全独立。之後处於几十年的内战，常受到法国和利比亚的干预。

English version：

Chad

Republic, northern central Africa. Area: 495,752 sq mi (1,283,998 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 7,166,000. Capital: N'Djamena. The Sara is the largest ethnic group, at about one-quarter of the total population; other groups include the Bagirmi and Bongo, the Lake and Mbum, the Tangale, and the Buduma, Kuri, and Kanemba. Arabs, composed of a multitude of tribes, represent a single ethnic group. Languages: French, Arabic (both official), and more than 100 dialects and languages. Religions: Islam, animism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism. Currency: CFA franc. The landlocked country's terrain is a shallow basin that rises gradually from 750 ft (228 m) above sea level at Lake Chad. The basin is rimmed by mountains, including the volcanic Tibesti Massif to the north, rising to 11,204 ft (3,415 m) at Mount Koussi. Its lowest elevation is the Djourab Depression, at 573 ft (175 m). Chad's river network is limited to the Chari and Logone rivers and their tributaries, which flow from the southeast into Lake Chad. It has an agricultural economy. It is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president and its head of government, the prime minister. Around AD 800 the kingdom of Kanem was founded, and by the early 1200s its borders had expanded to form a new kingdom, Kanem-Bornu, in the northern regions of the area. Its power peaked in the 16th century with its command of the southern terminus of the trans-Sahara trade route to Tripoli. Around this time the rival kingdoms of Baguirmi and Wadai evolved in the south. In the years 1883-93 all three kingdoms fell to the Sudanese adventurer Rabih az-Zubayr, who was in turn pushed out by the French in 1891. Extending their power, the French in 1910 made Chad a part of French Equatorial Africa. Chad became a separate colony in 1920 and was made an overseas territory in 1946. The country achieved independence in 1960. This was followed by decades of civil war, and frequent intervention by France and Libya.