Chad guide — editorial and map references
Prepared 26 October 2026

Scope
Twelve cities and towns, ten heritage and landscape locations, ten illustrated
reading topics, thirty answered reading questions and existing facts rounds.
Links teach general Arabic and French, not a dedicated Chadian Arabic course.
No citizenship test is invented. This is a country-learning guide.

Geography, history, language and society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Chad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Chad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadian_Arabic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_languages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahelanthropus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamat-Saleh_Haroun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadian_cuisine
https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/chad
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/27/senegal/chad-court-upholds-habre-conviction
https://www.fao.org/4/X6702F/X6702F03.htm
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/spirulina-miracle-ingredient-lake-chad
The guide distinguishes community languages from official languages and general
language lessons. Toumai is a fossil, not a proven direct ancestor. Dihe is
harvested from suitable alkaline ponds, not from every part of Lake Chad.

Economy, institutions and current conditions
https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/chad
https://www.beac.int/
https://data.ipu.org/parliament/TD/TD-UC01/
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/information-par-pays/tchad/presentation-du-tchad/
https://mahamatidrissdeby.td/2025/01/allocution-du-marechal-mahamat-idriss-deby-itno-a-la-ceremonie-du-desengagement-des-troupes-francaises-du-tchad/
https://ami.mr/en/archives/12844
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/chad
The political reading dates the 2024 elections, the Senate's establishment in
2025, the October 2025 constitutional amendments and France's January 2025 troop
withdrawal. It does not present the 2021 council as today's governing framework.
Official advice identifies serious regional risks, including northern Chad and
the Lake Chad area. Recheck it for current conditions. Mapped locations and
historic photographs do not establish present safety, opening or permission.

Water, heritage and conservation
https://eros.usgs.gov/earthshots/lake-chad-west-africa
https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/td/
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1400/ (Lakes of Ounianga, inscribed 2012)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1475/ (Ennedi, inscribed 2016)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2052/ (Ouara, Tentative List)
https://www.africanparks.org/the-parks/zakouma
https://saharaconservation.org/sahel-and-sahara-fauna/scimitar-horned-oryx/
https://www.whipsnadezoo.org/whats-here/animals/scimitar-horned-oryx
Open water and wetlands are different measurements of Lake Chad. Dates and
seasons matter. Ounianga lakes vary in salinity; groundwater supports them.
Scimitar-horned oryx have backward-curving horns and were reassessed as Endangered
in 2023 after reintroduction; they do not have the addax's spiralling horns.

Map provenance and limitations
The retained national outline is the Chad feature (ISO_A2=TD) from the site's
public/countries.geojson, a generalised Natural Earth-derived world map.
Natural Earth geometry is public domain:
https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/
Input: scripts/chad-outline-source.geojson.
City coordinates: curated approximate settlement centres retained in
scripts/chad-map-places.json. Named city articles on English Wikipedia provide
orientation references; coordinates use GeoJSON [longitude, latitude].
Sights: approximate educational points in src/lib/country-sights/chad.json.
No provincial boundaries, current control lines or seasonal lake extents are
shown. Broad landscape points are not protected-area boundaries or entrances.
Aloba Arch: NABS field GPS, UTM 34Q 632109E 1851440N, WGS84, approximately
16.742 N, 22.239 E: https://naturalarches.org/big_arches/big10-5.htm
Archei reference: https://www.geonames.org/245224/guelta-d-archei.html
Gaoui museum reference: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111903950
Ouara uses the former Wadai capital near 14.227 N, 20.672 E, north-northwest
of Abeche, not another locality of the same name. The UNESCO Tentative List
uses a coarser representative coordinate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouara
Other landscape references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Yoa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes_of_Ounianga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emi_Koussi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trou_au_Natron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Fitri
Rebuild offline: node scripts/build-chad-map.mjs
Check: node scripts/test-chad-guide.cjs
Live: CHAD_BASE_URL=https://worldly.academy node scripts/test-chad-guide.cjs

Quiz review
All eighty original seed questions remain unchanged in their source script and
are retained in scripts/fixtures/chad-facts-questions.json. Twenty-seven read-time
corrections preserve lesson/question IDs and progress. They date political facts,
correct the oryx horns, replace an unsupported mosque-funding claim and insect
question, clarify language and fossil terminology, remove broad stereotypes,
and distinguish lake-water variability from a timeless shrinkage percentage.
No database writes or schema changes are required.

Photographs
Reuses the existing collection at /images/facts-africa/td/. No new third-party
photographs were downloaded. These are historical images. The culture photo
shows a wedding participant; the people photo shows a roadside grill, not a
portrait representing all Chadians. The Gaoui museum is distinct from the
national museum in N'Djamena. Author, licence and source credits follow.

geography: Aloba Arch in the Ennedi Mountains, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/geography.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aloba_Arch_in_the_Ennedi_Mountains_-_northeastern_Chad_2015.jpg
David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

history: The museum in a former ruler’s residence at Gaoui, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/history.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mus%C3%A9e_national_de_Gaoui_au_Tchad.jpg
Fatakaya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

language: The entrance to Bololo School in N’Djamena, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/language.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C3%89cole_Bololo_de_N%E2%80%99Djamena.jpg
Souleymane Torbo, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

culture: A participant at a traditional Chadian wedding
/images/facts-africa/td/culture.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_danse_traditionnelle_sous_la_lune_au_Tchad.jpg
ALI ABDELKADER FOULATY1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

economy: The market at Bitkine, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/economy.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bitkine_market_Chad.jpg
120, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

politics: The courtyard of the presidential palace, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/politics.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palais_de_la_pr%C3%A9sidence_du_Tchad.jpg
YACOUB DOUNGOUS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

nature: An elephant in Zakouma National Park, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/nature.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephant_du_parc_national_de_Zakouma.jpg
YACOUB DOUNGOUS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

food: A meal at the market in Yao, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/food.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chad_2019_Yao_near_lac_Fitri_food_DSC4801.jpg
Gerhard Holub, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

landmarks: A lake at Ounianga Serir, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/landmarks.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ounianga_Serir.jpg
Jacques Taberlet, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

people: A roadside grill near N’Djamena, Chad
/images/facts-africa/td/people.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chad_2019_Pont_Belile_near_NDjamena_grill_station_DSC0806.jpg
Gerhard Holub, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons