The Toumaï

Some people believe all humans originated from Africa, and the Toumaï is substantial supporting evidence of that. The discovery of the Toumaï indicates Chad’s long, flourishing history. The Toumaï is a seven-million-year-old skull discovered in Chad. The indigenous people to Chad were the Sao, who lived along the Chari River. Eventually, the Kamen-Bornu and Baguirmi kingdoms took over, and thrived from Lake Chad, deep into the Sahara. After empires and kingdoms collapsed, the region was ruled by small tribes and was constantly raided by Arab slavers (africanhistory.about.com). These regions were predominantly Muslim. A Kanem ruling dynasty, named Saifawas, conquered even more surrounding land by conquest and marriage. This Islamic culture flourished

French Equatorial Africa, Ubangi-Shari-Chad, was rampant with the slave trade the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Prisoners of war and people captured by raids were commonly sold to Arab slave traders. France exploited the people of Chad by copying the Congo Free State, leasing land to private companies. These private companies had immense power and ability to wreak havoc in any way possible. Ruler Rabah Zubayr was a huge obstacle for France in the late 1890s. Zubayr, a former slave and current slave owner held his kingdom in Baguirmi. Rabah was eventually exterminated in 1900. Private companies severely exploited Chad people, forced labor of gathering wild rubber and cotton. André Gide wrote two books, highlighting this brutal exploitation, in 1927 and 1928, this proved positive because it “lead to improvements in social conditions” (historyworld.net). By WWII France’s involvement was accruing profit. The most profitable resources were gold and diamonds, mostly from the southern region, Ubangi-Shari. In 1920 Ubangi-Shari-Chad separated and became the colonies, Ubangi-Shari and Chad. Both colonies, even after separation, were still part of the same whole, French Equatorial Africa. And after that, in 1958 French Equatorial Africa separated, but Ubangi-Shari and Chad remained connected to France. Following this, both Ubangi-Shari and Chad gained independence. Although Ubangi-Shari became known as

The first president after gaining their freedom was N’Garta Tombalbaye. Tombalbaye successfully merges two rival parties to achieve the Union for the Progress of Chad in 1961. Front for the National Liberation of Chad becomes an obstacle to Tombalbaye’s rule. Front for the National Liberation of Chad was a guerilla group that occupied the northern regions of Chad. Tombalbaye did not lose power until his assassination in 1975. Enemy leaders of Front for the National Liberation of Chad battle for power over the country. The battle for ruler is possibly fueled by the “mistaken belief that there is uranium in the Aouzou Strip in the extreme north of Chad, bordering Libya” (historyworld.net). Moamar al-Gaddfi, the president of Libya, believes “Libya has a historic claim” to the Aouzou Strip (historyworld.net). In support of Goukouni Oueddi, one of Front for the National Liberation of Chad’s leaders, Gaddafi delivers tanks over the border. Gaddafi supports Oueddi because he will surrender him the Aouzou Strip. Oueddi and the other leader of Front for the National Liberation of Chad, Hissen Habré, whom he has been battling for the power of Chad, claims he is in charge of Chad. Habré seems to have a better plan, since in 1982 he created central control in the south. However, there is one major obstacle, Oueddi and Gaddafi’s Libyan troops in the north. Habré uses US and French allies to fight off