什麼是查德

法語作Tchad

非洲中北部共和國。面積1,284,000平方公里。人口約8,707,000（2001）。首都︰恩賈梅納。薩拉人是最大的種族集團，約佔全國人口的1/4，其他種族集團包括巴吉爾米人、邦戈人、拉卡人、姆布姆人、坦加勒人、布杜馬、庫裏和卡嫩巴人。阿拉伯人部落衆多，雖分散各地，但屬同一種族。語言︰阿拉伯語和法語（官方語），以及一百多種語言和方言。宗教：伊斯蘭教、萬物有靈論、天主教、新教。貨幣︰非洲金融共同體法郎（CFAF）。查德狀似淺盆，以查德湖爲起點地勢逐漸升高。查德湖盆地四周山嶺環繞，北有提貝斯提火山，其中的庫西山高達3,415公尺。盆地最低處爲朱拉卜窪地，海拔175公尺。查德的河流網只有沙裏河和洛貢河及它們的支流，流向東南注入查德湖。經濟以農業爲主。政府形式是共和國，一立法機關。國家元首是總統，政府首腦爲總理。

西元800年左右卡內姆王國建立，13世紀的頭十年，卡內姆王國擴張版圖，形成新的卡內姆－博爾努王國。16世紀該王國控制了穿越撒哈拉至的黎波里商隊路線的南端終點站，達到頂峯。此時，其對手巴吉爾米王國及瓦達伊王國發展很快。1883～1893年三王國均落入蘇丹冒險家拉比赫.祖拜爾征服。1891年拉比赫被法國人推翻。法國人擴張他們的勢力，1910年查德成爲法屬赤道非洲的一部分。1920年查德單獨成立殖民地。1946年成爲法國的海外領地。1960年獲得完全獨立。之後處於幾十年的內戰，常受到法國和利比亞的干預。

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.