Chad Location:
12°06'N, 15°02'E
Chad Geography:
At 1,284,000 square kilometres (495,755 sq mi), Chad is the world's 21st-largest country. It is comparable in size to Niger and slightly more than three times the size of the U.S. state of California.[38][39] Chad is in north central Africa, lying between 8° and 24° north and between 14° and 24° east. Chad is bounded to the north by Libya, to the east by Sudan, to the west by Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, and to the south by the Central African Republic. The country's capital is 1,600 kilometres (994 mi) from the nearest seaport.[30][40] Due to this distance from the sea and the country's largely desert climate, Chad is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
A heritage of the colonial era, Chad's borders do not coincide wholly with natural boundaries. The dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north, east and south by mountain ranges. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the remains of an immense lake that occupied 130,000 square miles (336,698 km2) of the Chadian Basin 7,000 years ago. [30] Although in the 21st century, it covers only 6,875 square miles (17,806 km2), and its surface area is subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations,[42], the lake is Africa's second largest wetland.[43] The Emi Koussi, a dormant volcano in the Tibesti Mountains that reaches 3,414 kilometres (2,121 mi) above sea level, is the highest point in Chad and the Sahara.
Each year a tropical weather system known as the intertropical front crosses Chad from south to north, bringing a brief wet season; a longer dry season follows.[44] Variations in local rainfall create three major geographical zones. The Sahara lies in the country's northern third. Yearly precipitations there is under 50 mm; in fact, Borkou in Chad is the most arid area of the Sahara. Vegetation throughout this belt is scarce; only the occasional spontaneous palm grove survives, the only ones to do so south of the Tropic of Cancer. The Sahara gives way to a Sahelian belt in Chad's centre; precipitation there varies from 300 to 600 mm per year. In the Sahel a steppe of thorny bushes (mostly acacias) gradually gives way to a savanna in Chad's Sudanian zone to the south. Yearly rainfall in this belt is over 900 mm.[40] The region's tall grasses and extensive marshes make it favourable for birds, reptiles, and large mammals. Chad's major rivers—the Chari, Logone and their tributaries—flow through the southern savannas from the southeast into Lake Chad.
Chad People:
Population
- 2005 estimate 10,146,000 (75th)
- 1993 census 6,279,921
- Density 7.9 /km2 (212th)
20.4 /sq mi
Chad Government:
Government Republic
- President Idriss Déby
- Prime Minister Delwa Kassiré Koumakoye
Chad Economy:
The United Nations' Human Development Index ranks Chad as the fifth poorest country in the world, with 80% of the population living below the poverty line. The GDP (PPP) per capita was estimated as U.S.$ 1,500 in 2005.[46] Chad is part of the Bank of Central African States and the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC). Its currency is the CFA franc. Years of civil war have scared away foreign investors; those who left Chad between 1979 and 1982 have only recently begun to regain confidence in the country's future. In 2000 major direct foreign investment in the oil sector began, boosting the country's economic prospects.
Women in Mao with water is provided by a water tower. Access to improved water is often a problem in Chad.Over 80% of Chad's population relies on subsistence farming and livestock raising for its livelihood.[38] The crops grown and the locations of herds are determined by the local climate. In the southernmost 10 percent of the territory is the nation's most fertile cropland, with rich yields of sorghum and millet. In the Sahel only the hardier varieties of millet grow, and these with much lower yields than in the south. On the other hand, the Sahel is ideal pastureland for large herds of commercial cattle and for goats, sheep, donkeys, and horses. The Sahara's scattered oases support only some dates and legumes.[2] Before the development of oil industry, cotton dominated industry and the labour market and accounted for approximately 80% of export earnings.[47] Cotton remains a primary export, although exact figures are not available. Rehabilitation of Cotontchad, a major cotton company that suffered from a decline in world cotton prices, has been financed by France, the Netherlands, the European Union, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The parastatal is now being privatised.
ExxonMobil leads a consortium of Chevron and Petronas that has invested $3.7 billion to develop oil reserves estimated at one billion barrels in southern Chad. Oil production began in 2003 with the completion of a pipeline (financed in part by the World Bank) that links the southern oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast of Cameroon. As a condition of its assistance, the World Bank insisted that 80% of oil revenues be spent on development projects. In January 2006 the World Bank suspended its loan program when the Chadian government passed laws reducing this amount.[19][36] On July 14, 2006, the World Bank and Chad signed a memorandum of understanding under which the Government of Chad commits 70% of its spending to priority poverty reduction programmes.
A bridge on the Bragoto River.Civil war crippled the development of transport infrastructure; in 1987, Chad had only 30 kilometres (19 mi) of paved roads. Successive road rehabilitation projects improved the network[49] to 550 kilometres (342 mi) by 2004.[50] Nevertheless, the road network is limited; roads are often unusable for several months of the year. With no railways of its own, Chad depends heavily on Cameroon's rail system for the transport of Chadian exports and imports to and from the seaport of Douala.[51] An international airport serves the capital and provides regular direct flights to Paris and several African cities. The telecommunication system is basic and expensive, with fixed telephone services provided by the state telephone company SotelTchad. Only 14,000 fixed telephone lines serve all of Chad, one of the lowest telephone density rates in the world. Chad's energy sector has suffered from years of mismanagement by the parastatal Chad Water and Electric Society (STEE), which provides power for 15% of the capital's citizens and covers only the 1.5% of the national population.[52] Most Chadians burn biomass fuels such as wood and animal manure for power.[53] Chad's cities face serious difficulties of municipal infrastructure; only 48% of urban residents have access to potable water and only 2% to basic sanitation.
The country's television audience is limited to N'Djamena. The only television station is the state-owned TeleTchad. Radio has a far greater reach, with 13 private radio stations. Newspapers are limited in quantity and distribution, and circulation figures are small due to transportation costs, low literacy rates, and poverty.[55][53] While the constitution defends liberty of expression, the government has regularly restricted this right, and at the end of 2006 began to enact a system of prior censorship on the media.
Chad More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad |
