Regions of Chad

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Updates: 

FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13 was issued on 2008-02-04. It has codes for the new regions of Chad, as shown below.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has ISO codes for the new regions of Chad. They are shown in the table below.

Gints Millins sent me an update. Chad has now been reorganized into eighteen regions. One of them, N'Djamena, is governed by a special statute. This is the regional structure provided for in the new (1996) constitution. Chad is divided into régions, which are subdivided into départements (departments), which are subdivided into communes, which are subdivided into communautés rurales (rural communities).

Country overview: 

In 1900, Chad was a territory, administered as part of French Kongo. On 1910-01-15, French Kongo's name was changed to French Equatorial Africa. During the period around World War II, Chad was called a military territory, and was subordinate to Ubangi-Shari-Chad. In one week in August, 1960, the four territories of French Equatorial Africa became independent, one by one. Chad was first, on 1960-08-11.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Tchad
2. Dutch: Tsjaad, Republiek Tsjaad (formal)
3. English: Republic of Chad (formal)
4. Finnish: Tšad
5. French: Tchad m, République f du Tchad (formal)
6. German: Tschad m
7. Icelandic: Tsjad
8. Italian: Ciad m
9. Norwegian: Tchad, Tsjad, Republikken Tsjad (formal)
10. Portuguese: Chade, Tchad (Brazil), República f do Chade m (formal)
11. Spanish: Chad, República f de Chad (formal)
12. Swedish: Tchad

Origin of name: 

after Lake Chad, which came from Bornu tsade: lake

Primary subdivisions: 

Chad is divided into 18 régions.

Further subdivisions:

See the Departments of Chad page.

The regions, excluding N'Djamena, are subdivided into 47 départements (departments). Previously, the prefectures were subdivided into sous-préfectures (sub-prefectures). There were 47 in 1982, 53 in 1990, and 108 in 2000.

Territorial extent: 

The Aozou strip, an area of some 100,000 sq. km. along the Libyan border, is claimed and occupied by Libya. It lies within Borkou, Ennedi, and Tibesti departments.

Origins of names: 

Some of the prefectures are named for the major rivers of the area. The Mayo Kébi River drains into the Bénoué, and thus finally to the Gulf of Guinea. The Chari, and its tributaries, including the Logone (with two branches, Logone Occidental and Logone Oriental) and Bahr Salamat, flows into Lake Chad. The Batha is an intermittent river, ending at Lake Fitri. Lakes Chad and Fitri grow and shrink according to the amount of rainfall. Bas (Lower) means downstream. Moyen means middle. Chari is a local word meaning river.

Change history: 

According to the French Wikipedia , in 1935 Chad was divided into ten départements (departments), with lower-level subdivisions (status not specified). These were the divisions at that time:

1. ~1941: Baguirmi and Bas-Chari departments merged to form Chari-Baguirmi (capital Fort-Lamy).
2. 1947: Status of departments changed to régions (regions).
3. 1960-08-11: Chad, formerly one of the four territories of French Equatorial Africa, became independent. At that time it already had a constitution (adopted 1958-10-04) under which administrative subdivisions had been created by law (1960-02-13). It was divided into préfectures which were subdivided into sous-préfectures. At the lowest administrative level were villages. If I correctly interpret the thick bureaucratese in which this report  (Word document download) is written, villages were combined to form cantons or groupements de villages (groupings of villages); some cantons and villages were grouped to form postes administratives (administrative stations).
4. 1960: Biltine prefecture split from Ouaddaï. The following list of divisions is based on the list in the Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.

1. 1962-01-09: Logone prefecture split into Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental, and Tandjilé.
2. 1962-10-29: Lac prefecture split from Kanem.
3. 1973-09-07: Name of national capital changed from Fort-Lamy to N'Djamena.
4. 1973: Name of capital of Moyen-Chari changed from Fort Archambault to Sarh. The divisions at this point were as follows:

N'Djamena is considered part of Chari-Baguirmi in the table above, following the standards and most reference books. However, according to this PDF document  (which has provisional results of the 1993 census), N'Djamena is administratively on the same level as the 14 prefectures, and its arrondissements are on a par with sub-prefectures. Sources for 1993 census data shown above: Annuaire Statistique: 1995 , a government publication, dated June 1998; and a Chinese Web page  showing the same figures. Both sources show N'Djamena and Chari-Baguirmi as separate entities, with populations of 530,965 and 720,941, respectively.

An earlier version of the Universal Postal Union document, "UPU Address formats", gave postal abbreviations for the prefectures of Chad. In most cases, they were the same as the ISO 3166-2 codes. The exceptions were Kanem, KN; Logone Occidental, LOC; and Logone Oriental, LOR.

1. 1999-09-01: By decree no. 355/PR/MISD/99, status of prefectures changed to departments. Batha department split into Batha Est and Batha Ouest departments; Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti department split into Borkou, Ennedi, and Tibesti departments; Chari-Baguirmi department split into Dababa, Baguirmi, and Hadjer Lamis departments; Bahr El Gazal department split from Kanem department; Monts de Lam department split from Logone Oriental department; Mayo-Kebbi department split into Kabia, Mayo Boneye, and Mayo-Dallah departments; Moyen-Chari department split into Lac Iro, Bahr Kôh, and Mandoul departments; Assongha and Sila departments split from Ouaddaï department; Tandjilé department split into Tandjilé Est and Tandjilé Ouest departments. These were the resulting divisions. A map of them can be found on page 16 of this PDF document .

1. 2002-10-17: Chad reorganized into eighteen régions (regions). The Constitution of Chad (1996-03-31) calls for the creation of decentralized "territorial collectivities", forming a hierarchical subdivision of the country. The primary subdivisions are régions (regions), which are to be divided into départements (departments), communes, and communautés rurales (rural communities). It took several steps to carry out this provision. Statutes for the regions, departments, and communes were embodied in organic law no. 002/PR/2000 (2000-02-16); for rural communities, in organic law no. 007/PR/2002 (2002-06-05). Decree no. 419/PR/MAT/02 of 2002-10-17 divided Chad into eighteen regions, of which one (N'Djamena) is governed by a special statute. Ordinance no. 01/PR/2003, creating decentralized territorial collectivities, gave the list of regions, departments, and communes formed. A future measure will create the rural communities. The new divisions include 17 regions, 47 departments, and 199 communes, plus the City of N'Djamena, a commune governed by a special statute. These laws will take effect gradually.
2. The new regions can best be described in terms of the prefectures that existed before 1999. Wadi Fira is the same as the old Biltine prefecture. The old Chari-Baguirmi prefecture corresponds to the new regions of Chari-Baguirmi (southern section), Hadjer-Lamis (northern section), and Ville de N'Djamena (capital area, west central). The old Moyen-Chari prefecture is now split into the new Mandoul (western) and Moyen-Chari (eastern) regions. The old Mayo-Kebbi prefecture is split into Mayo-Kebbi Est (northeastern) and Mayo-Kebbi Ouest (southwestern).

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti: B.E.T. (informal)
2. Chari-Baguirmi: Bas-Chari (obsolete)
3. Guéra: Baguirmi (obsolete)
4. Mayo-Dallah: Mayo-Dala (variant)
5. Mayo-Kebbi: Maio-Kebbi, Mayo-Kabbi, Mayo Kébbi, Mayo Kébi, Mayokerbi (variant)
6. N'Djamena: Ndjamena, N'Djaména (variant); Nyamena, Yamena (Spanish)
7. Ouaddaï: Ouadaï (obsolete)
8. Wadi Fira: Biltine (obsolete)