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Obverse of Undated 1970 Chad or Tchad 1,000 Francs
Obverse of Undated 1970 Chad or Tchad 1,000 Francs

Reverse of Undated 1970 Chad or Tchad 1,000 Francs
Reverse of Undated 1970 Chad or Tchad 1,000 Francs

A Brief History of Chad

Pre-Colonial History
Chad is essentially an artificial construct of French Colonial administrators. The area in which Chad exists was ruled by many different tribes, kingdoms and empires, the most important of which were Kanem-Bornu, Baugirmi and Ouaddai Empires.

Colonial History
French Forces arrived in the area in the 1890s. The French eventually established their control over the area and the territory was carved out to form a French Military Protectorate, governed from Fort Lamy (named after a French general who was killed during one of the military expeditions to conquer the area). The French generally used Chad as a source of labour and attempted to turn it into a cotton grown region, with limited success. Unlike some other French African colonies, Chad was considered to be a barren wasteland scarcely worth the effort of investing in, and so infrastructure and education was neglected.
During World War II, the Colony joined Free France and many Chadians fought alongside the Free French, and the airport near Fort Lamy was bombed by the Germans during the North African Campaign.

Independence
Chad became independent in 1960. Its first president was Francois Tombalbaye of the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT). However, democracy was soon abolished, and Tombalbaye presided over a one-party dictatorship that became more and more eccentric and oppressive until Tombalbaye was overthrown and murdered in 1975. Meanwhile, the capital had been renamed from Fort Lamy to N'Djamena in 1972 as part of Tombalbaye's attempts to 'africanise' the country.

Chaos
Tomabalbaye's demise heralded a new era of chaos and violence as central authority collapsed in Chad. Instead, the country was divided into competing rebel factions who carved out their own swathes of territory.
During the 1980s, Libya's Colonel Gaddaffi invaded Chad and occupied part of the country, but was eventually drive out in 1987. Hissene Hebre, President since 1982, took control of the country. His rule was charectarised by tyranny, torture and ethnic cleansing. He was overthrown in 1990 and fled into exile.
Hissene Hebre was replaced by Idriss Deby, a rebel leader, who remains the president to this day. Although elections have been held to confirm his continued rule over Chad, these results are considered highly questionable.
Today, a rebel insurgency by a group calling itself the Rally of Democratic Forces, allegedly supported by Sudan, is ongoing in Chad. In 2008, they nearly succeeded in capturing the capital and overthrowing Deby, but was driven off.

Chadian Coins
Chad does not have its own currency. Instead, it uses the Central African CFA Franc, a currency shared with Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. This currency was initially created in 1945 when France devalued its own Franc following the devastating effects of the Second World War.
Coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 francs are issued. The Centime subdivision of the CFA Franc exists only in theory. It is pegged to the Euro and is at par with the Western African CFA Franc.

For Sale and Wanted
If you are interested in coins from Chad please see our product index:-
Chadian Coins

Gold Coins
We also have gold coins from Chad on our taxfreegold website:-
Chadian Gold Coins



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