Tibesti Region

Coordinates: 21°21′16″N 17°00′04″E / 21.35444°N 17.00111°E / 21.35444; 17.00111

Tibesti
تيبستي
Region

Map of Chad showing Tibesti.
Country Chad
Departments 2
Sub-prefectures 7
Region 2008
Capital Bardaï
Government
 • Governor Hassane Tchonai Elimi (2017-)
Population (2009)[1]
 • Total 25,483
  The 2009 census figure is an official estimate.[1]

Tibesti Region (Arabic: مقاطعة تيبستي‎) is a region of Chad. It was created in 2008 when the former Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region was split into three, with the Tibesti Department becoming the Tibesti Region. The Ennedi Region and Borkou Region were also created at that time. This region lies in the Sahara.

Bardaï is the capital of the region.

Parts of the Tibesti Mountains are in the region.

History

Ancient

The rock paintings and engravings in Tibesti bear witness to an ancient civilization from 25,000 B.C. There are rock engravings in the area of Zouar, featuring, among others, bovine lovers of fresh grass, they attest to the wet past of the Sahara. The area has mainly been inhabited by the Toubou people.

Age of Colonization

In 1869, Gustav Nachtigal, sent by Otto von Bismarck to contact the Sultan of Bornu, was the first European to travel the Tibesti from Zouar to Bardaï. Condemned by the traditional assembly of the Toubou to capital punishment for espionage, he appealed, but this was rejected. He was only released upon the intervention of Maï Arami Tetimi, and after his return to Germany, he published the book Sahara and the Sudan.

The capital, Bardaï, was invaded by the Ottoman Empire in 1908, and by 1911, they had 60 men and 6 cannons in the town.[2]

First Chadian Civil War

Claustre Affair

in 1974, during the First Chadian Civil War, rebels led by Toubou nationalist Hissène Habré captured French archaeologist Françoise Claustre, Marc Combe, also French, an assistant to Mrs. Claustre's husband, and Christoph Staewen, a German physician. Stray bullets killed the Staewen's wife. The trio were captured near Bardaï in the desert of the Tibesti Region. Combe later escaped and Staewen was released after a ransom was paid to the German government.[3]

Combe would later write a book about his experiences during the affair, Otage au Tibesti.[3]

Rebels also established a radio station in Bardaï called "Voice of the Liberation of Chad", also known as Radio Free Bardaï.[4] An opposition leader, Goukouni Oueddei, established a base in the Tibesti region in the early 1980's with Libyan military backing.[5] In December, 1986, Habré attacked the Libyans in the Tibesti region around Bardaï.[6]

Geography

The Tibesti Region is located in the Sahara. It contains part of the Tibesti Mountains, and part of the Erg of Bilma, a vast area of sand dunes in the center of the desert. The region's northern border lies on the Aouzou Strip, a point of dispute between Chad and Libya. The region also shares a border with Niger. The capital, Bardaï, is located in the northern part of the region.

Subdivisions

The region of Tibesti is divided in two departments:

DepartmentCapitalSub-prefectures
Tibesti EstBardaïBardaï, Zoumri, Aouzou, Yebbibou
Tibesti OuestZouarZouar, Wour, Goubonne

References

  1. 1 2 DEUXIEME RECENSEMENT GENERAL DE LA POPULATION ET DE L’HABITAT: RESULTATS GLOBAUX DEFINITIFS (PDF) (Report). INSEED. March 2012. p. 24. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. ↑ 1937-, Wright, John, (1989). Libya, Chad, and the Central Sahara. Hurst. ISBN 9781850650508. OCLC 22001923.
  3. 1 2 Hanhimäki, Jussi M.; Blumenau, Bernhard (2013). An International History of Terrorism: Western and Non-Western Experiences. Routledge. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-136-20279-7.
  4. ↑ 1968-, Toïngar, Ésaïe, (2006). A teenager in the Chad Civil War : a memoir of survival, 1982-1986. McFarland. ISBN 9780786424030. OCLC 67361640.
  5. ↑ 1969-, McKenna, Amy, (2011). The history of western Africa. Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Educational Services. ISBN 9781615303991. OCLC 694786807.
  6. ↑ Guy., Arnold, (2009). The A to Z of civil wars in Africa. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810868854. OCLC 815276695.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.