The Economic & Geopolitical History of Tchad Part 1
According to the UN, this is the 2nd least developed country in the world, let's find out why
Chad is one of those African countries that fills out the “Africa Bingo Card”: Colonialism, Corruption, Civil Wars, Rebellions, Tribalism, Religious Tension, Autocracy, Western Puppeteering, & Famine.
Chad, the 5th largest African country, is three times size of California & larger than UK, France, & Germany combined, with 18.6M people and 200 ethnic groups as of January 2024. Named after Lake Chad, “Chad” means “Lake” in Kanuri, a local Chadian language.
Geographically, the North of Chad is Sahara, the middle is Sahel, and the South is Savanna. The North, predominantly Muslim, is home to various ethnic groups including Baggara Arabs, Zaghawa, Fulani, Kanembu, Masalit, and Tubu. The South was originally inhabited by Sara people practicing Animism until colonialism, after which it became Christian and Animist. The capital is N’Djamena (N-Jah-men-a).
80% of Chadians are subsistence farmers, goat herders, or fishermen, with farming yields lower than the African average, categorizing it as a “Low Income Food deficit Country”.
The country has requested 7 IMF bailouts since independence. The country’s human development index (a United Nations composite score of health, education and income) ranks second to last globally at 39.4%. With the exception of South Sudan, every country has higher human development than Chad, including Yemen, Haiti, or Afghanistan. Adjusted for inflation, this country is poorer than it was at independence.
During French rule, the Northern Muslim majority's disinterest in French values led France to impose its values on the Animist Southern minority, resulting in the Christian South. Civil war erupted between the Christian South and Muslim North, exacerbated by Gaddafi's interest in Chad's uranium-rich North. Chad was suffering post-war, but Chad briefly benefited when it finally sold oil in 2003. But the economy suffered again when Chinese oil demand slowed in 2014-2015, and the American shale revolution flooded global markets, causing oil prices to plummet post-2014. See chart below on Chadian income growth. Peak real incomes annually were ~$1200 a year for the average Chadian.
The worst part is Chad doesn’t really have that much oil in a relative sense. Chad’s oil exports is ~$3B of oil a year. In no universe is that a substantial amount of oil. Libya, Chad’s neighbor, sells $30B in oil. To put perspective on how much more oil-rich Libya is over Chad, Chad’s oil exports per capita is $158 per person. Libya is $4300 per person. Look at Chad’s exports below:
In addition, the country might have a huge untapped supply of uranium. But because of the civil war, the war against Libya, and rebels, no mining firm has dug out large quantities uranium yet.
Pre-Colonialism
Kanem-Bornu Empire
Before French colonization, three main empires dominated the region: the Kanem-Bornu empire, which emerged in the 8th century, along with the Ouaddai (Wadai) and Bagirmi Sultanate, which arose in the 16th century. Initially, the Kanem-Bornu consisted of nomadic Africans (Bornu) fleeing Sahara desertification. By the 11th century, they settled, engaged in farming, forged iron weapons for defense, and embraced Islam from trading with North African Berbers. By the 16th century, Bornu merged with Kanem, forming the vast Kanem-Bornu Empire, spanning Southern Libya, Northeastern Nigeria, North Cameroon, and Eastern Niger.
The Kanembu people, who founded the state, traded slaves, salt, ivory, ostrich feathers, and cloth with Malian West Africans, Moroccans, and Muslim North Africans. In exchange for slaves, the North Africans & Arabs provided the Kanembu with musketeers and military weapons, enhancing their power.
In the 16th century, the Kanem-Bornu Empire's influence began to decline as the Turkish Ottoman Empire expanded into North Africa, taking away their territory in Southern Libya. Despite facing Turkish expansionism, they maintained trade and received technological transfers, such as bronze weapons, muskets, and cannons.
The trans-Saharan slave trade dwindled as alternative trade routes formed like the Omani Empire's Indian Ocean slave trade and the European transatlantic trade. The trans-Saharan trade was seen as too perilous and it was a long wait to obtain slaves. Consequently, the Kanem-Bornu Empire declined, losing sources of revenue, technology, and territory to other tribes.
It’s worth stating that life expectancy was low due to diseases like hookworm, droughts, malaria, and infections, with the population of this empire estimated to be around 1.5 million by the 1800s.
A Slave State, even before Europeans showed up
By the 19th century, before European imperialism, the Kanem-Bornu Empire faced internal turmoil as Fulani Muslims wreaked havoc and enslaved Kanembu people.
Eventually, Rabih Az-Zubayr, a slave trader from Egypt's Sudan, exploited the power vacuum, conquering most of Kanem-Bornu, Darfur in Sudan, and Ubangui in modern day Central African Republic. He took these Africans as slaves to Khartoum. The French later intervened, crushing Rabih's army and merged these regions (except Darfur which was given to Britian’s Egypt-Sudan) into French Equatorial Africa, claiming they did this to end Arab slavery. However, their main objective was to create a land bridge between their North and West African colonies and those in Central Africa.
French Chad(1900-1960)
French colonialism in Chad was distinct. The North, deemed inhospitable, retained its social institutions, while the fertile South was exploited for picking cotton, earning it the nickname "Le Tchad Utile" or "Useful Chad." France introduced its values, education, healthcare, and Christianity to the South, leading to its conversion from Animism to Christianity. France noticed that the Northern Arab Chadians and Southern Christian Chadians couldn’t unite due to their lack of common history, so France stopped trying. The Northern Muslim traders called the Southern Sara people “Mere Beasts”, as the Northern Chadians used to sell Southerners to slavery. Ethnic divisions persisted, mirroring Britain's rule in Sudan.
France instituted forced labor because the Chadians were very rebellious (I wonder why? *sarcasm*). Forced labor was “enforced” by taking the Chadians food & livestock, kidnapping hostages, castration, and burning houses and crops. The largest forced labor project was building a railway in French Congo from Point-Noire to Brazzaville, 120K Africans and 600 Chinese were forced to complete the project, around 10K workers died before the railway was finished.
After WW1, France intended to cede the Aouzou Strip to Italy for its loyalty, but the plan faltered when Italy turned fascist and attacked Ethiopia, which the League of nations considered sovereign. As a result of this, the Aouzou became a point of contention between the soon-to-be nation states of Libya and Chad.
Post WW2 reforms
After WW2, French Africa’s shocking loyalty to France prompted France to relax its policies, enhance education, and permit political parties, predominantly benefiting Southern Chad. The educated elite from Chad came from the Christian South. In addition, France set up a community for their colonies called the “French Community”, which was France’s version of the British “Commonwealth of Nations”.
Two main parties emerged: the Tchadian Democratic Union (UDT) representing North Muslim interests, and the Tchadian Progressive Party (PPT) representing South Christian/Animist interests (*What could go wrong?*). The PPT prevailed in elections, despite, not being the majority, aligning Southern Chad with France, while the North leaned towards Libya's King Idris.
Chad ranked among the poorest French colonies, lacking significant natural resources, and governing it was deemed challenging within French bureaucracy. Despite this, Chad's income in 1953 was lower than that of Vietnam, a colony facing intense French military action to maintain control.
The sad thing is Chadian incomes were higher than Burkinabes, Cambodians, Malians, Mauritanians, Laotians, Comoroians, and Guineans in the 1950s. But now Chad is poorer than all of those nations.
In 1954, King Idris of Libya sought to annex the Aouzou Strip for its uranium, but France thwarted his attempts.
Additionally, French companies such as Total, initiated oil exploration in Chad in the years preceding independence. Unfortunately they never dug oil up before independence day.
Before independence, Chadians, like other French colonies, voted in a referendum to remain within the CFA franc and French Community. Chad, along with most French African colonies, opted to retain the CFA franc, except Guinea, which chose complete decolonization.
In 1960, Chad voted for independence but chose to remain on the CFA franc. Central African Republic wanted to form a nation with the other Equatorial African nations, but Chad, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, and Cameroon declined.
“Independent” Chad
François Ngarta Tombalbaye(Tom-bah-bi-ye) (1960-1975)
Tombalbaye, a Southern Christian from the Sara Tribe, struggled to unify Chad, grappling with vast territory, poor infrastructure, limited exports, and diverse tribal populations. High illiteracy rates compounded the challenge, necessitating imports for basic needs like medicine, machinery, and food.
French-Afrique: Initially, like most former French colonies, French officials assisted the new sovereign government, with technical advisors aiding in infrastructure projects. France also maintained a military presence to counter Soviet influence, providing aid and soldiers to crush rebellions on condition of Chad's allegiance. 30% of French military assistance to Black Africa allocated just to Chad.
Regionalist & Tribalist Politics: In 1962, he removed French civil service staff and replaced them with people of his Sara tribe and Christian Southerners. Tombalbaye marginalized other groups and banned opposition parties, alienating Northern Arabs, Tobu, and Kanembu. He quickly became a dictator enriching himself, his family, and his tribe.
Unfortunately, “Africanizing” or “Southernizing” of the government was done too quickly (done in less than a year), the government civil service had immediately decline in providing government services. The Chadian Arabs, the Tobu, and Kanembu in the North saw this as replacing competent, but patronizing white masters with incompetent Southerners.
Authoritarianism: Tombalbaye centralized power and thought democracy was slow down modernization. He purging dissenters and eliminated people who disagreed with his plans. He dissolved the national assembly in 1963 after protests.
Oil Discovery: However, Tombalbaye did not want his people to think he was a total French pawn. Tombalbaye shifted from using French Total to American Conoco for oil exploration in the 1970s.
Economics: Chad has very little domestic industry. Chad's economy relied on cotton exports to France for food, clothing, and medicine. Tombalbaye started to tax cattle and cotton exports at three times the official taxation rates to collect more revenue. Most cattle ranchers were Northerners.
The tax on cattle and cotton farmers was severely unpopular, protests broke out and Tombalbaye sent his police to murder Northern cattle ranchers and cotton farmers, killing 500 Muslim Northerners in 1965. Tombalbaye started to not trust the Muslims and cracked down on them. The Tobu, the Baggara Arabs, and other Muslims stared to flee to Sudan and Libya.
Chadian Civil War (1965-1979): Muslim North vs. Christian South
Muslim Rebellion
The Muslim North, disillusioned by Tombalbaye's perceived incompetence, frustrated with his bias towards Southerners, resentful of the crackdowns on their customs, and disgusted by his alignment with France, ignited rebellion.
A Tubu Northerner killed a Southerner. In response, Tombalbaye enforced collective punishment on the Muslim North, banning Muslim attire and triggering a rebellion in Wadi Prefecture, marked by brutal military reprisals.
Tombalbaye also aimed to abolish nomadism in the North, viewing it as hindering economic progress, resulting in violent suppression of nomadic Toubou tribes, who fled to Libya and Sudan, receiving support and weapons to resist the government.
In Sudan, Muslim nationalists, Islamists, and Northern Socialist intellectuals formed the National Liberation Front of Tchad (FROLINAT), comprised of multiple factions with different ideological leanings. King Idris of Libya also felt compelled to help the Chadian Arabs since they were in the same sect of Islam - Sussi Sufism, which King Idris was the chief of the whole sect.
FROLINAT advocated tax refusal and rebelled against Tombalbaye's regime. Tombalbaye retaliated by reducing investment in the North. At this point there was no social contract between Tombalbaye and the North, which caused his ability to govern the north to be impossible. Tombalbaye then asked help from France, Israeli, and Moroccan mercenaries so he can kill FROLINAT.
By 1968, Tombalbaye was able to kill some rebel leaders. But just because you kill a leader doesn’t mean you kill the ideology. Another head came out of the hydra, a new Toubou leader emerged.
Here comes Gaddafi!
Also in 1969, Muammar Gaddafi, took over Libya from King Idris. He completely realigned Libya from being pro-Western to pro-Soviet. But ultimately, he wanted to create a third Pan-Arab/Pan-African/Pan-Muslim superpower away from Soviet atheist communism or Western capitalism. He was happy to provide Chadian Northerners with Soviet arms. Gaddafi even allowed the leader of the FROLINAT rebels a headquarters in Tripoli, as he saw this rebellion as a way to remove French influence from Chad & obtain uranium from the Aouzou Strip, which was north of Chad. With uranium, Gaddafi could make a nuclear bomb to defend himself from his enemies - America, France, and Israel. If you want to learn more about Gaddafi click here.
The Economic & Geopolitical History of Libya
“His (Gaddafi) rule saw him go from revolutionary hero to international pariah, to valued strategic partner and back to pariah again.” — by BBC writer, Martin Asser
French Support
In 1969, François lost control of Central and North Chad, leading him to seek assistance from French President Charles de Gaulle. France initiated Operation Bison to reform Chad's army, prompting criticism of neo-colonialism from Chadians. Despite this, the reforms improved national unity by appointing more Muslims in the army and ending Southern favoritism. These changes enabled Chad to resist FROLINAT rebels, funded by Gaddafi using oil revenues.
Gaddafi attempted a coup on Tombalbaye, leading to a major rift between them, with Tombalbaye accusing Gaddafi of “Arab imperialism” and then Tombalbaye claimed South Libya's Fezzan as Chadian territory. Tombalbaye also tried to launch a coup in Libya - known as the “Black Prince Conspiracy”.
Gaddafi retaliated by labeling Tombalbaye a "Zionist Puppet" for hiring Israeli mercenaries, and then Gaddafi endorsed a FROLINAT rebel leader as Chad's legitimate president. Gaddafi also claimed that the Aouzou strip belongs to Libya.
Libya & Chad mend relations
By 1972, the countries mended relations. This required Tombalbaye cutting off ties with Israel and relinquishing the Aouzou Strip. In 1973, Gaddafi sent soldiers to the Aouzou strip and gave the Chadians there Libyan citizenship. In return Gaddafi, kicked out the Chadian rebels and made a joint investment bank with Chad to invest in projects and gave Tombalbaye $40M.
However, the FRELINOT Rebels were still trying to take over Chad, even without Gaddafi’s support. The rebels were destabilizing Chad and kidnapped, killed, and tortured people. Tombalbaye never had the chance to make irrigation projects, so when a drought hit, Chad’s economy couldn’t make cotton, the economy was stagnating, and people were starving.
France ceased aid to Chad after Tombalbaye struck a deal with Gaddafi, whom France sought to eliminate due to his Soviet allegiance and anti-French stance in Africa.
Incompetence Continues
Chad was on a downturn, and Tombalbaye needed money. He started to make the army force Chadians to pick more cotton so the government would have more revenue. Needless to say this caused more civil unrest.
Amidst civil unrest, Tombalbaye launched the "Chadiutude" campaign, renaming French names to African ones. The capital Fort-Lamy was renamed Ndjamena, which means roughly "Leave us alone." (referring to French).
He made his government officials undergo an Animist initiation ritual called Yondo which involved flogging, facial scarring, drugging, and mock burial. It could kill you. This ritual got in the way of his farm irrigation projects and schooling as 1000s of government officials, teachers and policy makers were doing this two month ritual instead of doing their jobs. Ministers of Education and Agriculture thought this policy was deranged.
By this point in the civil war, his own army thought that Tombalbaye was insane. By 1975, Tombalbaye was assassinated by his own Army General Felix Malloum.
Summary so far:
Chad is a nation that France made up where Northern Muslims historically enslaved Southern non-Muslims. With the Northern region being largely desert and disinterested in French values, France sought to instill these values among the Southern population. At independence, an incompetent leader ruled and favorited the South, which created horrific strife that we are only beginning to address. Stick around for Part 2.
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So interesting to read - thank you for this! I'm looking forward to the next part
Fascinating - this was actually my first post of yours that I’ve read, have subbed!