Chad, Lake

Lake, western Africa.

Located at the juncture of the boundaries of Nigeria, Niger, and Chad, its southern part forms the northern extent of Cameroon. Fed by the Chari River, its area varies from year to year, usually ranging between 3,800 and 9,900 sq mi (9,850 and 25,600 sq km). Its water level has been dropping since the 1970s, a change apparently related to the desertification of the surrounding Sahel region. The lake was first explored by Europeans in 1823.

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▪ lake, Africa

Introduction

French  Lac Tchad  

 freshwater lake located in the Sahelian zone of west-central Africa at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. It is situated in an interior basin formerly occupied by a much larger ancient sea that is sometimes called Mega-Chad. Historically, Lake Chad has ranked among the largest lakes in Africa, though its surface area varies greatly by season, as well as from year to year. When the surface of the lake is approximately 920 feet (280 metres) above sea level, the area is about 6,875 square miles (17,800 square kilometres); in the early 21st century, however, the area was typically about 580 square miles (1,500 square kilometres). The hydrologic contributions and biological diversity of Lake Chad are important regional assets. The region is noteworthy for important archaeological discoveries, its role in trans-Saharan trade, and its association with historic African kingdoms.

Physical features

Geology and physiography

      The Chad basin is a downwarped section of the Precambrian African Shield. Most of the older crystalline rocks are covered by more recent deposits. The most significant physiographic influence on the basin was the ancient sea. At its maximum extent the sea was more than 600 feet deep, occupied an area of approximately 154,400 square miles, and drained into the Atlantic Ocean through the Benue River system. It experienced four high stages between 41,000 and 2,300 years ago. The history of the sea is documented in the stratigraphic record, which includes thick layers of diatomaceous earth, lacustrine sands, terraced shorelines, and the remains of modern fish and mollusks in now-arid tracts of the basin. The floor of the basin dips to the northeast of the modern lake, reaching its lowest point in the Djourab Depression, some 300 miles away. Lake Chad occasionally overflows into the generally intermittent El-Ghazal River leading into the depression, but it is usually confined by the dune fields of Kanem.

Climate

      The climate of the Lake Chad region is strongly influenced by the seasonal migration and interaction of the dominant air masses of the region: a dry, subsiding continental air mass and a humid, unstable maritime air mass. The humid air mass moves northward during the summer, wedging beneath the drier air mass. Precipitation occurs when the depth of humid air is sufficiently great. The depth of the air mass varies daily as well as seasonally, accounting for variation in rainfall. At the end of the summer the dominance of the dry continental air mass is reasserted. Evaporation and transpirational losses from soil and plants increase, and then they decrease as the surface layers of the soil dry and plants lose their leaves. The dry season is also the period of the harmattan, a dust-laden wind that reduces visibility for days at a time. The increased insolation, reduced humidity, and desiccating winds contribute greatly to water loss in the lake.

      Rainfall is greatest from July to September. Annual rainfall averages 22 inches (560 millimetres) at the southern margin of Lake Chad and about 10 inches at the northern margin. Variability during the year is high and increases from south to north; variability from year to year is also high, and droughts are frequent. Temperatures during the rainy season are moderate, with highs of about 90° F (32° C). In October and November, during the transition to the dry season, daily highs rise above 90° F, and diurnal ranges are almost double those of the rainy season. During December and January daytime highs are lower, with nighttime lows sometimes falling to about 47° F (8° C). April is usually the hottest month of the year, with temperatures occasionally exceeding 110° F (43° C).

Hydrology

      Lake Chad is a variable body of water. Its measured surface area typically fluctuates seasonally, peaking in late October or early November, then shrinking by more than half by late April or early May. The lake is dotted with numerous islands, which can coalesce into larger land areas during periods of extremely low surface levels. The volume of the lake reflects local rainfall and the discharge of its catchment area, balanced against losses through evaporation, transpiration, and seepage. The lake is fed chiefly by the Chari (Chari River) (Shari)–Logone (Logone River) river system, which accounts for about four-fifths of the inflow. Of the remaining inflow, most is contributed by the Ebeji (El-Béid) and Yedseram rivers. Losses to evaporation and the transpiration of aquatic plants amount to approximately 100 inches each year. It is probable that up to another 10 inches replenish groundwater supplies in the adjacent Manga and Kanem lowlands and pass as underflow through the El-Ghazal.

      At times when the lake has a greater surface area, it can be divided into two pools partially separated by a low ridge extending roughly northeast-southwest across the centre of the lake; the ridge was formed during a drought at the beginning of the 20th century, and at times it has completely divided the basins. Typically, depths of 13 to 23 feet are common in the northwestern pool, and 33-foot depths can occur among the islands along the eastern margin of the pool. Because of sediment deposition by the Chari River, the southeastern pool is generally shallower—10 to 13 feet deep—but sometimes reaches depths of 36 feet along the archipelago. The gentle slope of the lakeshore allows persistent dry-season winds to locally affect water levels for short periods of time. The salt content of Lake Chad is unusually low for a tropical dryland lake with no outlet. As the waters of the lake evaporate during the dry season, the salt content increases, with the highest values recorded along the northeastern shoreline.

      Travelers reported high water levels and overflow into the El-Ghazal during the 13th and 19th centuries. In 1870, for example, Lake Chad covered some 10,800 square miles. At the turn of the 20th century the lake began to diminish in size, but by the 1920s it had recovered, and in 1956 it again overflowed into the El-Ghazal. During the 1970s and '80s the amplitude of the lake's annual variability was the highest recorded in the 20th century, with average levels falling below long-term norms; the surface area was reduced to less than 1,500 square miles for a time in the mid-1980s and again in the early 21st century. The corresponding variability in rainfall appears to have been related to the effects of environmental degradation.

Plant life

      The well-drained soils around Lake Chad once supported a relatively dense woodland, including species such as kapok and ebony. Changing patterns of land use and progressive degradation have reduced diversity and resulted in a more open woodland increasingly composed of species adapted to reduced moisture. They include several acacias, baobab, desert date, palms, African myrrh, and Indian jujube. The periodically inundated lands near the lake are more heavily vegetated. Annual grasses are increasing at the expense of the more economically valuable perennial species. Papyrus, ambatch, water lilies, and reeds dominate aquatic vegetation.

Animal life

      Visitors to the medieval kingdom of Kanem in the Lake Chad region described an abundance of wildlife; until the early 20th century essentially the same faunal assemblages were reported. Since then, however, habitat loss, hunting, and direct competition from livestock have depleted wildlife populations. As with vegetation, the trend is toward decreased diversity and lower levels of biological productivity. Large carnivores, including lions and leopards, have been eliminated in livestock areas; and other large animals such as the rhinoceros and hippopotamus have been reduced or eliminated. Nocturnal species have been less affected by these changes; and some, particularly rodents, have benefited from them.

      Hundreds of species of birds reside permanently or seasonally in the Lake Chad region. Included are prominent terrestrial birds—such as the ostrich, secretary bird, Nubian bustard, and ground hornbill—and the water and shore birds for which the region is famous—such as the garganey, shoveler, fulvous tree duck, Egyptian goose, pink-backed pelican, marabou stork, glossy ibis, and African spoonbill. Included among the amphibians and reptiles are the Nile crocodile, rock python, and spitting cobra. The Chad basin remains an important fishery, with more than 40 species of commercial importance. Also noteworthy are such ancient species as the lungfish and sailfin.

The people and economy

Settlement history

      The Chad basin contains the earliest evidence of hominin occupation yet found in western Africa, and it appears that the Lake Chad region has been continuously settled since 500 BC. Among the major archaeological discoveries of the region has been the Sao civilization; it is believed that the modern Kotoko, a fishing people on the Chari near Lake Chad, are descendants of the Sao.

      During the medieval period (9th to 16th century) the Lake Chad region was both an important refuge and an area in which diverse populations were consolidated by the authority of powerful kingdoms. The modern Kanembu, for example, are composed of several groups consolidated by Kanem in the 9th century; similarly, the modern Kanuri emerged from the imposed authority of Kanem's successor state, Bornu, located southwest of Lake Chad. Some ethnic groups were not assimilated. The metallurgists of Kanem, for example, were apparently the Danoa (Haddad), who currently serve as blacksmiths among the Kanembu. Other groups resisted integration into the medieval kingdoms. The Yedina (Buduma) established themselves among the inaccessible islands and along the marshy northern shore of Lake Chad, and the Kuri did the same in inaccessible areas along the eastern margin of the lake.

      Other ethnic groups established themselves on the shores of Lake Chad in the more recent past. Arab settlement dates from the arrival of the Judam tribes in the 16th century. Some ethnic groups, such as Fulani pastoralists, now enter the Lake Chad lowlands on a seasonal basis; and Hausa agricultural communities can often be found along the lake. The economy of these modern peoples of the Lake Chad region is based primarily on fishing, subsistence and commercial agriculture, and animal husbandry—often in combination.

Agriculture and forestry

      Subsistence crops include sorghum, corn (maize), African millet, beans, and vegetables. Bottle gourds are grown widely for making utensils. Polders near Bol, used to grow cash crops, are based on traditional agricultural practices. Cultivated by the Kanembu and Yedina, the polders are devoted chiefly to wheat.

      The exploitation of such forest products as gum arabic, honey, beeswax, and firewood is of considerable importance in the region. Production of these, however, has been adversely affected by the decline of the forested areas, aggravated by the explosive growth of cattle populations.

Livestock and fishing

      Cattle are the most important livestock raised. Notable breeds include the Kuri (Chad) and several varieties of zebu (Brahman). Milk is a major component of local diets, and cattle are an important export to the tsetse-infested regions to the south. Poultry, goats, sheep, camels, horses, and asses are also kept. Livestock raising was sharply affected by the drought of the 1970s and '80s.

      Fishing (commercial fishing), traditionally the most important economic activity for the peoples of the lake, all but ceased during the drought and resumed only in the mid-1990s. Much of the catch is dried, salted, or smoked. Dried Alestes species, known by the Arabic name salanga, and pieces of smoked fish called banda are marketed, primarily in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Minerals

 Petroleum reserves have been discovered in Chad and Niger. Natron (hydrated sodium carbonate), found in depressions along the northeastern shore of the lake, has long been economically important. Traditionally, it is excavated in blocks and shipped across the lake, where it enters Nigerian commerce.

Transportation

      Lake Chad is little used for commercial navigation, although there has been intermittent barge traffic between Bol and N'Djamena since the early 1950s. A variety of watercraft are used in fishing, including the papyrus-reed kadeï of the Yedina and the sewn-plank boats of the Kotoko.

Study and exploration

      For millennia, settlement patterns of peoples of Mediterranean and sub-Saharan origin have overlapped in the Sahara, and there is emerging evidence of a long history of interaction between the Lake Chad region and other regions of northern Africa. There are essentially four periods during which the region was strongly affected by external influences. The first is expressed in hints of Egyptian contact with the region, in the sub-Saharan commerce of Carthage and the Garamantes, and in references in Greek, Roman, and Arabic literature. The second period was precipitated largely by the expansion of Islam (Islāmic world) in North Africa during the 7th century AD, when groups of Arabs and Imazighen (Berbers) who resisted conversion sought refuge in the dry lands of the south. The third period emerged from trade between Kanem or Bornu and Mediterranean Africa, the penetration of Islam into sub-Saharan Africa, and increased Arab interest in geographic exploration. It is documented in the many Arabic works written in the 9th to 14th centuries and is also reflected in Abraham Cresque's Catalan Atlas (c. 1375). The fourth period emerged from growing interest in Africa within European academic and commercial circles and was a prelude to European colonization. Numerous descriptions of the Lake Chad region were written by 19th-century Europeans, and three scientific missions were mounted between 1898 and 1909.

      Since the 1960s the region has been the subject of long-term climatological studies. In 1964 the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) was formed by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria; the Central African Republic joined in 1994. The LCBC is charged with regulating the use of the waters of the lake and the basin for the development of livestock, crop, fishery, and water resources. It has also attempted to find ways to reverse the drastic decline in the size of the lake.

Additional Reading

A general overview of Lake Chad is contained in A.T. Grove, “Lake Chad,” The Geographical Magazine, 37(7):524–537 (November 1964). Jean Maley, “Histoire de la végétation et du climat de l'Afrique nord-tropicale au Quaternaire récent,” Bothalia, 14(3–4):377–389 (September 1983), presents a long-term view of climate change in the Chad basin. The annual vegetation of the region is discussed in H. Gillet, “Essai d'évaluation de la biomasse végétale en zone Sahélienne (végétation annuelle),” Journal d'agriculture tropicale et botanique appliquée, 14(4-5):123–158 (April–May 1967). J.-P. Carmouze, J.-R. Durand, and C. Lévêque (eds.), Lake Chad: Ecology and Productivity of a Shallow Tropical Ecosystem (1983), is a lengthy study of the lake's environment and productivity. The fish of Lake Chad and its tributaries are described in J. Blache and F. Miton, Les Poissons du bassin du Tchad et du bassin adjacent du Mayo Kebbi (1964). A particularly useful study of the peoples of the Chad basin is Albert Le Rouvreur, Sahéliens et Sahariens du Tchad (1962, reissued 1989). The more recently arrived Arab groups are discussed in J.C. Zeltner, Les Arabes dans la région du Lac Tchad: problèmes d'origine et de chronologie (1977).Jeffrey Allman Gritzner

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