Tchad Ma Culture
Key facts about Chad
Name: ____________________Class: ________Date: ________
Tick the correct answer.
What are the official languages of Chad?
What is Chad’s capital, called Fort-Lamy before 1973?
On what date did Chad become independent?
Toumaï, found in 2001 in the Djurab, is about…
Which Chadian site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2016?
In what year were the Lakes of Ounianga listed by UNESCO?
According to the 2009 census, which is Chad’s largest population cluster?
The Toubou divide into two main branches. Which ones?
The Gerewol, where young men adorn themselves and dance to be chosen, belongs to which people?
In Chad’s Muslim families, when does a child traditionally receive its name?
Since 2015, what is the legal minimum age for marriage in Chad?
Which empire, born around the 9th century north-east of Lake Chad, lasted nearly a thousand years?
Which writer published “Au Tchad sous les étoiles” in 1962?
Who was the first president of independent Chad?
How many administrative provinces has Chad had since the 2018 ordinance?
How many state universities does the higher-education ministry list?
Answer key
- A. French and Arabic — The Constitution makes French and Arabic the two official languages; over a hundred national languages are spoken alongside them (see the Languages page).
- B. N’Djamena — Founded in 1900 after the battle of Kousseri as Fort-Lamy, the city was renamed N’Djamena in 1973.
- A. 11 August 1960 — Independence was proclaimed on 11 August 1960, with François Tombalbaye as president. 26 August 1940 is when Chad rallied to Free France.
- C. 7 million years — The Sahelanthropus tchadensis skull, published in Nature in 2002, is about 7 million years old, one of the oldest known members of the human lineage.
- A. The Ennedi Massif — The Ennedi Massif (natural and cultural landscape, rock art) was listed in 2016; the Lakes of Ounianga in 2012.
- B. 2012 — The eighteen Lakes of Ounianga, deep in the Ennedi desert, became Chad’s first listed site in 2012.
- C. The Sara — The Sara were 30.5% of the population in 2009 and split into subgroups such as the Ngambaye and Madjingaye (Sara page).
- A. Teda and Daza — The Teda live mostly in Tibesti, the Daza (Gorane) in Borkou, Ennedi and Kanem. Kenga and Dangaléat are Hadjeraï; Salamat and Missirié are Arab groups.
- B. The Mbororo (Wodaabe) — RFI (2025) describes the Gerewol as the courtship ritual of young Mbororo; see the “Traditional marriage” page.
- B. On the seventh day — The Muslim naming takes place on the seventh day, with a prayer said into the child’s ear (“Other ceremonies” page).
- C. 18 for both spouses — The 2015 ordinance, ratified by law no. 029/PR/2015, bans child marriage and sets the age at 18.
- A. Kanem-Bornu — Kanem emerged around the 9th century; its Sayfawa kings moved to Bornu at the end of the 14th century (History page).
- B. Joseph Brahim Seid — This collection of tales and legends (Présence africaine, 1962) is one of the first books of Chadian literature (Literature page).
- A. François Tombalbaye — Independence was proclaimed on 11 August 1960; Tombalbaye became the first president. Félix Éboué, born in French Guiana, was a governor, not president of independent Chad (Presidents and figures page).
- C. 23 provinces — Ordinance no. 038/PR/2018 of 10 August 2018 turned the 23 regions (Ennedi already split) into 23 provinces. The 14 prefectures and 18 regions are earlier maps (From province to village page).
- B. 10 — The MESRSFP “State universities” table lists ten universities, from N’Djamena to Pala (Universities and institutes page).
Source: tchadmaculture.com
