Chad (French colony)

Origins

French expeditions converged on the Chari after 1897, and the defeat of Rabih az-Zubayr's state at Kousseri in 1900 opened the region. It was administered as a military territory, then joined to Ubangi-Shari, and became a separate colony in 1920 within French Equatorial Africa. Fort-Lamy, now N'Djamena, was its capital.

Rule and society

French control was weak in the Muslim north, where the Wadai Empire and Saharan peoples resisted for years. The south, home to the Sara and other peoples, was made to grow cotton for export from the 1920s, and supplied soldiers and forced labour. In August 1940 Governor Félix Éboué declared for Free France, and Leclerc's forces struck north from Chad into Libya.

Decline and legacy

Chad became an autonomous republic in 1958 and independent on 11 August 1960 under François Tombalbaye. Tensions between north and south inherited from colonial rule soon led to civil war.