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Christianity in Chad arrived more recently than other religions, with the arrival of Europeans. [1] Its followers are divided into Roman Catholics and Protestants (including several denominations) and collectively represent 45% of the country's population. [1] [2]
The Protestants came to southern Chad in the 1920s. [1] The American organization Baptist Mid-Missions was the first Protestant mission to settle in the country in 1925 in Sarh. [3] Missionaries of other denominations and nationalities soon followed. [1] Many of the American missions were northern offshoots of missionary networks founded farther south in the Ubangi-Chari colony (now Central African Republic) of French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Franchise — AEF). [1] The organizational ties between the missions in southern Chad and Ubangi-Chari were strengthened by France's decision in 1925 to transfer Logone Occidental, Tandjilé, Logone Oriental, and Moyen-Chari prefectures to Ubangi-Chari, where they remained until another administrative shuffle restored them to Chad in 1932. [1]
In 1964, the Chadian Association of Baptist Churches was officially founded. [3]
These early Protestant establishments looked to their own churches for material resources and to their own countries for diplomatic support. [1] Such independence allowed them to maintain a distance from the French colonial administration. [1] In addition, the missionaries arrived with their wives and children, and they often spent their entire lives in the region. [1] Some of the missionaries who arrived at that time had grown up with missionary parents in missions founded earlier in the French colonies to the south. [1] Many remained after independence, leaving only in the early and or mid-1970s when Tombalbaye's authenticité movement forced their departure. [1]
The missionaries set up schools, clinics, and hospitals long before the colonial administration did. [1] In fact, the mission schools produced the first Western-educated Chadians in the 1940s and 1950s. [1] In general, the Protestant missionary effort in southern Chad has enjoyed some success. [1] In 1980, after a half-century of evangelization, Protestants in southern Chad numbered about 80,000. [1]
From bases in the south, Protestants founded missions in other parts of Chad. [1] In the colonial capital of Fort-Lamy (present-day's N'Djamena), the missions attracted followers among resident southerners. [1] The missionaries also worked among the non-Muslim populations of Guéra, Ouaddaï, and Biltine prefectures. [1] There were estimated to be 18,000 Christians in N'Djamena in 1980. [1]
The Roman Catholic missions came to Chad later than their Protestant counterparts. [1] Isolated efforts began as early as 1929 when The Holy Ghost Fathers from Bangui founded a mission at Kou, near Moundou in Logone Occidental Prefecture. [1] In 1934, in the midst of the sleeping sickness epidemic, they abandoned Kou for Doba in Logone Oriental Prefecture. [1] Other priests from Ubangi-Shari and Cameroon opened missions in Kélo and Sarh in 1935 and 1939, respectively. [1]
In 1946 these autonomous missions gave way to an institutionalized Roman Catholic presence. [1] This late date had more to do with European politics than with events in Chad. [1] Earlier in the century, the Vatican had designated the Chad region to be part of the Italian vicarate of Khartoum. [1] Rather than risk the implantation of Italian missionaries during the era of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the French administration discouraged all Roman Catholic missionary activity. [1] For its part, the Vatican adopted the same tactic, not wishing to upset the Italian regime by transferring jurisdiction of the Chad region to the French. [1] As a consequence of their defeat in World War II, however, the Italians lost their African colonies. [1] This loss cleared the way for a French Roman Catholic presence in Chad, which a decree from Rome formalized on March 22, 1946. [1]
This decree set up three religious jurisdictions that eventually became four bishoprics. [1] The first, administered by the Jesuits, had its seat in N'Djamena. [1] Although its jurisdiction included the eight prefectures in the northern and eastern parts of the country, almost all the Roman Catholics in sahelian and Saharan Chad lived in the capital. [1] The diocese of N'Djamena also served as the archdiocese of all Chad. [1] The second bishopric, at Sarh, also was delegated to the Jesuits. [1] Its region included Salamat and Moyen-Chari prefectures. [1] The third and fourth jurisdictions had their headquarters in Pala and Moundou and were delegated to the Oblats de Marie and Capuchin orders. [1] The Pala bishopric served Mayo-Kebbi Prefecture, while the bishopric of Moundou was responsible for missions in Logone Occidental and Logone Oriental prefectures. [1] By far the most important jurisdiction in 1970, Pala included 116,000 of Chad's 160,000 Catholics. [1]
The relatively slow progress of the Roman Catholic Church in Chad has several causes. [1] Although Roman Catholicism has been much more open to local cultures than Protestantism, the doctrine of celibacy probably has deterred candidates for the priesthood. [1] Insistence on monogamy also has undoubtedly made the faith less attractive to some potential converts, particularly wealthy older men able to afford more than one wife. [1]
The social works of the Roman Catholic Church have made it an important institution in Chad. [1] Like their Protestant counterparts, the Roman Catholic missions have a history of social service. [1] In the 1970s, along with priests, the staffs of most establishments included brothers and nuns who worked in the areas of health, education, and development. [1] Many of the nuns were trained medical professionals who served on the staffs of government hospitals and clinics. [1] It was estimated that 20,000 Chadians attended Roman Catholic schools in 1980. [1] Adult literacy classes also reached beyond the traditional school-aged population. [1] In the area of development, as early as the 1950s Roman Catholic missions in southern Chad set up rural development centers whose clientele included non-Christians as well as Christians. [1]
In 2020 the Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo received its first native Chadian bishop, Philippe Abbo Chen. [4] In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, bishop Chen described the faithful of his vicariate as a "small flock of Christians in the desert" and said that although Christians were sometimes wary to demonstrate their faith publicly, the Church generally operated without legal restrictions. He added that some young Muslim clerics were being radicalised during training in Sudan, and that this was a concern for the future. [5]
| Affiliation | 1993 Census [6] | 1996-97 DHS Survey [7] [note 1] | 2004 DHS Survey [8] [note 1] | 2009 Census [9] | 2010 Malaria Survey [10] [note 2] | 2010 Pew Forum Estimates [11] [12] | 2014-15 DHS Survey [13] [14] [note 3] | 2020 Pew Research Center Projections [15] | 2020 The ARDA Estimate [16] | 2021 ACN International Estimate [17] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muslim | 53.1% | 54.6% | 55.7% | 58% | 53.6% | 55.7% | 52.1% | 55.1% | 56.3% | 57.5% |
| Christian | 34.3% | 38.9% | 40.0% | 34% | 43.0% | 40.0% | 44.1% | 41.1% | 35.2% | 34.8% |
| Catholic | 20.1% | 22.6% | 22.4% | 18% | - | 22.5% | 20% | - | 15.6% | - |
| Protestant | 14.2% | 16.3% | 17.6% | 16% | 17.6% | 23.9% | - | 7.8% | - | |
| Other Christians | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2% | - | 11.8% | - |
| Animist | 7.3% | 2.9% | 4.3% | 8% | 3.4% | - | 0.3% | 1.3% | 7.6% | 6.7% |
| Other | 0.5% | 3.5% | - | - | - | 0.1% | 0.8% | 1% | ||
| Unknown | 1.7% | - | - | 0.7% | - | |||||
| None | 3.1% | - | - | 2.8% | 2.4% | 0.1% | ||||
| Notes | ||||||||||
Chad is one of the 47 landlocked countries in the world and is located in North Central Africa, measuring 1,284,000 square kilometers (495,755 sq mi), nearly twice the size of France and slightly more than three times the size of California. Most of its ethnically and linguistically diverse population lives in the south, with densities ranging from 54 persons per square kilometer in the Logone River basin to 0.1 persons in the northern B.E.T. (Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti) desert region, which itself is larger than France. The capital city of N'Djaména, situated at the confluence of the Chari and Logone Rivers, is cosmopolitan in nature, with a current population in excess of 700,000 people.
Transport infrastructure within Chad is generally poor, especially in the north and east of the country. River transport is limited to the south-west corner. As of 2011 Chad had no railways though two lines are planned - from the capital to the Sudanese and Cameroonian borders during the wet season, especially in the southern half of the country. In the north, roads are merely tracks across the desert and land mines continue to present a danger. Draft animals remain important in much of the country.
N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or arrondissements.
Moundou is the second-largest city in Chad and is the capital of the region of Logone Occidental.
Sarh, formerly French colonial Fort Archambault, is the capital of the Moyen-Chari Region and of the Department of Barh Köh in Chad.
The Bua languages are a subgroup of the Mbum–Day subgroup of the Savanna languages spoken by fewer than 30,000 people in southern Chad in an area stretching roughly between the Chari River and the Guéra Massif. They were labeled "G13" in Joseph Greenberg's Adamawa language-family proposal. They are ultimately part of the Niger–Congo family, and have exerted a significant influence on Laal.
The regions of Chad are divided into 61 departments. The departments are listed below, by name and by region.
The administrative divisions of Chad have often changed since 1900, when the territory was first created by France as part of its colonial empire, with the name Territoire Militaire des pays et protectorats du Tchad. The first subdivision took place in 1910, when 9 circumscriptions were made, named départements (departments) in 1935 and régions (regions) in 1947. As for the regions, they were further divided in districts.
The Catholic Church in Chad is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Marba is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Azumeina peoples of Chad as their first language. It is also the name of one of the Azumeina peoples.
Chad Premier League is a Chadian league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Chadian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 12 clubs, it is organized under the play-off formula.
The Association des Guides du Tchad is the national Guiding organization of Chad. The girls-only organization is a full member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. Girl Guiding in Chad is active in both urban and rural areas. The association has a strong and growing membership, which stood at 15,765 as of 2018.
The Tupuri are an ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. They speak a language called Tupuri, which had 125,000 speakers in Cameroon at an unspecified date and 90,785 speakers in Chad in 1993. There were 215,466 of them in Chad in 2009.
The departments of Chad are divided into 348 sub-prefectures (sous-préfectures).
The Cinema of Chad is small though growing. The first film made in the country appears to have been 1958 John Huston adventure film The Roots of Heaven, filmed when the country was still a part of French Equatorial Africa. Documentary filmmaker Edouard Sailly made a series of shorts in the 1960s depicting daily life in the country. During this period there were a number of cinemas in the country, including in N'Djamena Le Normandie, Le Vogue, the Rio, the Étoile and the Shéherazade, and also the Rex in Sarh, the Logone in Moundou and the Ciné Chachati in Abéché. The film industry suffered severely in the 1970s-80s as Chad became engulfed in a series of civil wars and foreign military interventions; film production stopped, and all the cinemas in Chad closed down. Following the ousting of dictator Hissène Habré by Idriss Déby in 1990 the situation in the country stabilised somewhat, allowing the development of a nascent film industry, most notably with the work of directors Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Issa Serge Coelo and Abakar Chene Massar. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun has won awards at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, Venice International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. In January 2011 Le Normandie in N'Djamena, said to now be the only cinema in Chad, re-opened with government support.
Founded in 1964, Chari Jazz was the first modern Chad musical group.
Islam and Christianity are the most widely professed religions in Chad. Smaller populations of non-religious people as well as adherents of other faiths are also present.
Mass media in Chad is controlled by the government.
Jean Jacques Marie Ferdinand de Béhagle was a French explorer of Africa. He served with the colonial service in Algeria and travelled in the Congo and Ubangi region. While attempting to find a viable land route from the Congo to the Mediterranean via Chad he was taken prisoner by Rabih az-Zubayr and hanged.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)