French Chad
Chad was a part of the French colonial empire from 1900 to 1960. Colonial rule under the French began in 1900 when the Military Territory of Chad was established. From 1905, Chad was linked to the federation of French colonial possessions in Middle Africa, known from 1910 under the name of French Equatorial Africa. Chad passed in 1920 to French civilian administration, but suffered from chronic neglect.
Territory of Chad (1900–1920) Territoire du Tchad Colony of Chad (1920–1960) Colonie du Tchad | |||||||||||||||||
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| 1900–1960 | |||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: La Marseillaise | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | Constituent of French Equatorial Africa | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Fort-Lamy | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | French (official) Chadian Arabic, Sara, Kanembu, Sango | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Islam, Christianity, traditional African religion | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Colony (1900–1946) Overseas territory (1946–1958) Autonomous republic (1958–1960) | ||||||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||||||
• 1900 | Émile Gentil | ||||||||||||||||
• 1959–1960 | Daniel Doustin | ||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||
• 1957–1959 | Gabriel Lisette | ||||||||||||||||
• 1959–1960 | François Tombalbaye | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Established | September 5, 1900 | ||||||||||||||||
• Merged with Ubangi-Shari | February 11, 1906 | ||||||||||||||||
• Integrated into French Equatorial Africa | January 15, 1910 | ||||||||||||||||
• Separate colony | March 17, 1920 | ||||||||||||||||
• Status changed to overseas territory | October 27, 1946 | ||||||||||||||||
• Autonomy | November 28, 1958 | ||||||||||||||||
• Independence | August 11, 1960 | ||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||
| 1943 | 1,194,508 km2 (461,202 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1950 | 1,283,993 km2 (495,752 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||
• 1936 | 1,432,600 | ||||||||||||||||
• 1943 | 1,432,555 | ||||||||||||||||
• 1950 | 2,241,000 | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency | French Equatorial African franc (1900–1945) CFA franc (1945–1960) | ||||||||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | TD | ||||||||||||||||
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| History of Chad |
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Chad distinguished itself in 1940 for being, under the governorship of Félix Éboué, the first French colony to rally by the side of Free France. After World War II, the French permitted a limited amount of representation of the African population, ushering the way to the clash in the political arena between the progressive and southern-based Chadian Progressive Party (PPT) and the Islamic conservative Chadian Democratic Union (UDT). It was eventually the PPT which emerged victorious and brought the country to independence in 1960 under the leadership of François Tombalbaye.