在法国的殖民扩张之下,法国殖民者于1900年建立了“乍得国家和保护国军事领地”(Territoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad)。直至1920年,法国已取得乍得全国的控制权。殖民地时期的乍得并无统一领土的政策,现代化进程缓慢。法国人主要视乍得为低级劳动力和棉花的次要来源地,1929年,法国开始在当地大规模生产棉花。乍得殖民政府人手严重不足,并需要依靠来自法国本土能力最差的一批官员。乍得境内只有南部管理得较好,法国对北部和东部的控制则有名无实。殖民政府的忽视使教育制度也长期得不到发展。第二次世界大战后,法国把乍得列为海外领地,领地居民有权选举法国国民议会代表和乍得人民议会议员。当时的最大政党是扎根南部地区的乍得进步党。1960年8月11日,乍得在弗朗索瓦·托姆巴巴耶带领下从法国独立,托姆巴巴耶任首任总统。
Chad (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد Tshād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa". Chad is divided into three major geographical regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. In 1960 Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François Tombalbaye. Resentment towards his policies in the Muslim north culminated in the eruption of a long-lasting civil war in 1965. In 1979 the rebels conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselves until Hissène Habré defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in 1990 by his general Idriss Déby. Recently, the Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees living in and around camps in eastern Chad.
While many political parties are active, power lies firmly in the hands of President Déby and his political party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups d'état (see Battle of N'Djamena (2006) and Battle of N'Djamena (2008)).
The country is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world; most Chadians live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. Since 2003 crude oil has become the country's primary source of export earnings, superseding the traditional cotton industry.