Adjacent Words

Chad definitions

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CIA World Factbook, 2008

Background
Chad, part of France's African holdings until 1960, endured three decades of civil warfare as well as invasions by Libya before a semblance of peace was finally restored in 1990. The government eventually drafted a democratic constitution, and held flawed presidential elections in 1996 and 2001. In 1998, a rebellion broke out in northern Chad, which sporadically flares up despite several peace agreements between the government and the rebels. In 2005, new rebel groups emerged in western Sudan and have made probing attacks into eastern Chad, despite signing peace agreements in December 2006 and October 2007. Power remains in the hands of an ethnic minority. In June 2005, President Idriss DEBY held a referendum successfully removing constitutional term limits and won another controversial election in 2006.

Location
total: 1.284 million sq km land: 1,259,200 sq km water: 24,800 sq km

Area - comparative
total: 5,968 km border countries: Cameroon 1,094 km, Central African Republic 1,197 km, Libya 1,055 km, Niger 1,175 km, Nigeria 87 km, Sudan 1,360 km

Coastline
lowest point: Djourab Depression 160 m highest point: Emi Koussi 3,415 m

Natural resources
arable land: 2.8% permanent crops: 0.02% other: 97.18% (2005)

Irrigated land
Total: 0.23 cu km/yr (17%/0%/83%) Per capita: 24 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping

Geography - note
0-14 years: 47.3% (male 2,366,496/female 2,308,155) 15-64 years: 49.8% (male 2,250,211/female 2,676,076) 65 years and over: 2.9% (male 120,666/female 164,057) (2007 est.)

Median age
total: 16.3 years male: 15 years female: 17.4 years (2007 est.)

Population growth rate
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.025 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.841 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.736 male(s)/female total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

Infant mortality rate
total: 102.07 deaths/1,000 live births male: 108.27 deaths/1,000 live births female: 95.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 47.2 years male: 46.17 years female: 48.27 years (2007 est.)

Total fertility rate
degree of risk: very high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne disease: malaria water contact disease: schistosomiasis respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2007)

Nationality
noun: Chadian(s) adjective: Chadian

Ethnic groups
definition: age 15 and over can read and write French or Arabic total population: 47.5% male: 56% female: 39.3% (2003 est.)

Country name
conventional long form: Republic of Chad conventional short form: Chad local long form: Republique du Tchad/Jumhuriyat Tshad local short form: Tchad/Tshad

Government type
name: N'Djamena geographic coordinates: 12 06 N, 15 02 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions
chief of state: President Lt. Gen. Idriss DEBY Itno (since 4 December 1990) head of government: Prime Minister Nouradine Delwa KASSIRE Koumakoye (since 26 February 2007) cabinet: Council of State, members appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote to serve five-year term; if no candidate receives at least 50% of the total vote, the two candidates receiving the most votes must stand for a second round of voting; last held 3 May 2006 (next to be held by May 2011); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Lt. Gen. Idriss DEBY Itno reelected president; percent of vote - Lt. Gen. Idriss DEBY 64.7%, Delwa Kassire KOUMAKOYE 15.1%, Albert Pahimi PADACKE 7.8%, Mahamat ABDOULAYE 7.1%, Brahim KOULAMALLAH 5.3%; note - a June 2005 national referendum altered the constitution removing presidential term limits and permitting Lt. Gen. Idriss DEBY Itno to run for reelection

Legislative branch
elections: National Assembly - last held 21 April 2002 (next to be held by 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MPS 110, RDP 12, FAR 9, RNDP 5, URD 5, UNDR 3, other 11

Judicial branch
chief of mission: Ambassador Mahamat Adam BECHIR chancery: 2002 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 462-4009 FAX: [1] (202) 265-1937

Diplomatic representation from the US
chief of mission: Ambassador Louis NIGRO embassy: Avenue Felix Eboue, N'Djamena mailing address: B. P. 413, N'Djamena telephone: [235] 251-62-11, [235] 251-70-09, [235] 251-77-59 FAX: [235] 251-56-54

Flag description
agriculture: 22.2% industry: 47.2% services: 30.6% (2007 est.)

Labor force
agriculture: 80% (subsistence farming, herding, and fishing) industry and services: 20% (2006 est.)

Unemployment rate
lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices)
revenues: $1.889 billion expenditures: $1.473 billion (2007 est.)

Agriculture - products
general assessment: primitive system with high costs and low telephone density domestic: fair system of radiotelephone communication stations international: country code - 235; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2007)

Radio broadcast stations
total: 7 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways
total: 48 1,524 to 2,437 m: 16 914 to 1,523 m: 21 under 914 m: 11 (2007)

Pipelines
total: 33,400 km paved: 267 km unpaved: 33,133 km (1999)

Waterways
males age 20-49: 1,527,580 females age 20-49: 1,629,510 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service
males age 20-49: 794,988 females age 20-49: 849,500 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually
males age 18-49: 94,536 females age 20-49: 93,521 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP
refugees (country of origin): 234,000 (Sudan), 41,246 (Central African Republic) IDPs: 100,000 (2006)

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHAD, n. A kind of fish; pronounced shad.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a small piece of paper that is supposed to be removed when a hole is punched in a card or paper tape
2: a lake in north central Africa; fed by the Shari river [syn: Lake Chad, Chad]
3: a landlocked desert republic in north-central Africa; was under French control until 1960 [syn: Chad, Republic of Chad, Tchad]
4: a family of Afroasiatic tonal languages (mostly two tones) spoken in the regions west and south of Lake Chad in north central Africa [syn: Chad, Chadic, Chadic language]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1944 small pieces of paper or cardboard produced in punching paper tape or data cards; also a piece of chad • chadless adjective

Merriam Webster's

or French Tchad geographical name country N central Africa capital N'Djamena; a republic; until 1959 a territory of French Equatorial Africa area 495,752 square miles (1,288,955 square kilometers), population 5,200,000 • Chadian adjective or noun

Britannica Concise

Republic, N central Africa. Area: 495,752 sq mi (1,283,998 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 7,166,000. Capital: N'Djamena. The Sara is the largest ethnic group, at about one-quarter of the total population; other groups include the Bagirmi and Bongo, the Lake and Mbum, the Tangale, and the Buduma, Kuri, and Kanemba. Arabs, composed of a multitude of tribes, represent a single ethnic group. Languages: French, Arabic (both official), and more than 100 dialects and languages. Religions: Islam, animism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism. Currency: CFA franc. The landlocked country's terrain is a shallow basin that rises gradually from 750 ft (228 m) above sea level at Lake Chad. The basin is rimmed by mountains, incl. the volcanic Tibesti Massif to the north, rising to 11,204 ft (3,415 m) at Mt. Koussi. Its lowest elevation is the Djourab Depression, at 573 ft (175 m). Chad's river network is limited to the Chari and Logone rivers and their tributaries, which flow from the southeast into Lake Chad. It has an agricultural economy. It is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president and its head of government, the prime minister. Around AD 800 the kingdom of Kanem was founded, and by the early 1200s its borders had expanded to form a new kingdom, Kanem-Bornu, in the N regions of the area. Its power peaked in the 16th cent. with its command of the S terminus of the trans-Sahara trade route to Tripoli. Around this time the rival kingdoms of Baguirmi and Wadai evolved in the south. In the years 1883-93 all three kingdoms fell to the Sudanese adventurer Rabih az-Zubayr, who was in turn pushed out by the French in 1891. Extending their power, the French in 1910 made Chad a part of French Equatorial Africa. Chad became a separate colony in 1920 and was made an overseas territory in 1946. The country achieved independence in 1960. This was followed by decades of civil war, and frequent intervention by France and Libya.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shad Shad (sh[a^]d), n. sing. & pl. [AS. sceadda a kind of fish, akin to Prov. G. schade; cf. Ir. & Gael. sgadan a herring, W. ysgadan herrings; all perhaps akin to E. skate a fish.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of food fishes of the Herring family. The American species (Clupea sapidissima), which is abundant on the Atlantic coast and ascends the larger rivers in spring to spawn, is an important market fish. The European allice shad, or alose (C. alosa), and the twaite shad. (C. finta), are less important species. [Written also chad.] Note: The name is loosely applied, also, to several other fishes, as the gizzard shad (see under Gizzard), called also mud shad, white-eyed shad, and winter shad. Hardboaded, or Yellow-tailed, shad, the menhaden. Hickory, or Tailor, shad, the mattowacca. Long-boned shad, one of several species of important food fishes of the Bermudas and the West Indies, of the genus Gerres. Shad bush (Bot.), a name given to the North American shrubs or small trees of the rosaceous genus Amelanchier (A. Canadensis, and A. alnifolia) Their white racemose blossoms open in April or May, when the shad appear, and the edible berries (pomes) ripen in June or July, whence they are called Juneberries. The plant is also called service tree, and Juneberry. Shad frog, an American spotted frog (Rana halecina); -- so called because it usually appears at the time when the shad begin to run in the rivers. Trout shad, the squeteague. White shad, the common shad.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chad Chad, n. See Shad. [Obs.]