Chad Provinces

Chad is the fifth largest country in Africa and has no coast, so its map runs from the Sahara in the north to the green country along the Logone in the south. Its 23 provinces cover the country without a gap, and nearly all of the people live in the small southern provinces and around the capital, N'Djamena, while the huge desert provinces of the north hold very few.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: The Sahara, the Sahel and the south
In the game: 23 provinces

Start

What you are looking at

The 23 provinces of today, named the way Chad writes them. The three big desert provinces of Tibesti, Borkou and Ennedi-Ouest fill the north and are the largest on the map, while the provinces of the south, packed along the border with Cameroon and the Central African Republic, are a fraction of their size. N'Djamena is a province of its own, a tiny square on the western border.

The groups are not an official classification. They are the Saharan north, the Sahelian centre and the southern provinces, a way to learn the map a piece at a time.

How to place one

Start with the capital. N'Djamena is the small province at the point where the Chari meets the Cameroon border, in the south west.
Climb the west. Chari-Baguirmi, Hadjer-Lamis, Lac and Kanem run up the side, with Lac on the shores of Lake Chad.
Cross the desert. Tibesti, Borkou and the two Ennedi provinces take up the whole north, with Tibesti in the north west corner against Libya.
Finish in the south. The two Logone provinces, Tandjilé, the two Mayo-Kebbi provinces, Mandoul and Moyen-Chari fill the green south.

Every province, by group

The Sahara4 provinces: Borkou, Ennedi-Est, Ennedi-Ouest, Tibesti
The Sahel11 provinces: Bahr el Gazel, Batha, Chari-Baguirmi, Guéra, Hadjer-Lamis, Kanem, Lac, N'Djamena, Ouaddaï, Sila, Wadi Fira
The south8 provinces: Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental, Mandoul, Mayo-Kebbi Est, Mayo-Kebbi Ouest, Moyen-Chari, Salamat, Tandjilé

Worked examples

N'Djamena

The capital

N'Djamena is the smallest province by far, a pocket on the western border between Chari-Baguirmi and Cameroon.

Tibesti

The largest

Tibesti is the largest province, a block of volcanic mountains and desert in the far north, with Borkou to its south and Libya along its northern edge.

Lac

The lake

Lac is the province on the shore of Lake Chad, with Kanem to its north east and Hadjer-Lamis to its south.