![View of Chari](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/View_of_Chari.jpg)
The Chari River, or Shari River, is a long river, flowing in
Central Africa
Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...
. It is
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
's main source of water.
Geography
The Chari River flows from the
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
through
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
into
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
, following the
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
border from
N'Djamena
N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements''.
The city serves as the centre of economic activity in Chad. Meat, fish and cotton processing are the ...
, where it is joined by its western and principal tributary, the
Logone River
The Logon or Logone River is a major tributary of the Chari River. The Logone's sources are located in the western Central African Republic, northern Cameroon, and southern Chad. It has two major tributaries: the Pendé River (Eastern Logone) in ...
.
It provides 90 percent of the water flowing into
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
. The
watershed of the river covers . The principal tributary is the
Logone River
The Logon or Logone River is a major tributary of the Chari River. The Logone's sources are located in the western Central African Republic, northern Cameroon, and southern Chad. It has two major tributaries: the Pendé River (Eastern Logone) in ...
, while minor tributaries include the
Bahr Salamat
Bahr Salamat is a seasonally intermittent river in Chad. It flows southwards, and is a tributary of the Chari River.
When the Bahr Salama river is flowing, it runs through the community of Am Timan
Am Timan (Arabic: أم تيمان, ''ʾUmm T ...
, the
Bahr Sah), the
Bahr Aouk
The Bahr Aouk River is a river in central Africa. It arises in eastern Chad at the border to Sudan and flows southwest, forming a significant portion of the international boundary between Chad and the Central African Republic. The Bahr Aouk meets ...
and the
Bahr Kéita
Bahr may refer to:
*Bahr, Iran, village in Bushehr Province, Iran
* Bahr, village near Straßburg, now: Barr, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France
*Bahr, Netherlands, hamlet in Gelderland, Netherlands
*Bahr (surname)
*Bahr (toponymy), a component of Arabic pla ...
.
Much of Chad's population, including
Sarh
Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive det ...
and the capital
N'Djamena
N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements''.
The city serves as the centre of economic activity in Chad. Meat, fish and cotton processing are the ...
, is concentrated around it.
As of 2016,
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
remains one of four countries where
Guinea worm
''Dracunculus medinensis'', or Guinea worm, is a nematode that causes dracunculiasis, also known as guinea worm disease. The disease is caused by the female which, at up to in length, is among the longest nematodes infecting humans. In contra ...
disease remains endemic. The majority of remaining cases are concentrated around the Chari River.
The river supports an important local
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
industry. One of the most highly prized local fish is the
Nile perch
The Nile perch (''Lates niloticus''), also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi , Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is wid ...
.
Since the 1960s, there have been proposals to divert water from the
Ubangi River
The Ubangi River (), also spelled Oubangui, is the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River in the region of Central Africa. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mean annual discharge ...
to the Chari to revitalize
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
, which would constitute a reversal of
the capture of the upper Ubangi from the Chari by
the Congo that is believed to have occurred in the early Pleistocene.
History
The
Sao people are said to have lived by this river.
The Chari River basin has been populated by diverse speakers of the
Chadic languages
The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 150 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, the Central African Republic, and northern Cam ...
,
Adamawa languages
The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in central Africa, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Chad, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 19 ...
,
Ubangian languages
The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango. They are ...
,
Bongo-Bagirmi languages.
See also
*
Oubangui-Chari
Ubangi-Shari (french: Oubangui-Chari) was a French colony in central Africa, a part of French Equatorial Africa.
It was named after the Ubangi and Chari rivers along which it was colonised. It was established on 29 December 1903, from the ...
*
Chari–Baguirmi Region
Chari-Baguirmi ( ar, شاري باقرمي) is one of the 23 regions of Chad. Its capital is Massenya. It is composed of part of the former Chari-Baguirmi Prefecture ( sub-prefectures of Massenya and Bousso) and parts of the sub-prefecture of N' ...
*
Moyen-Chari Region
Moyen-Chari ( ar, شاري الأوسط) is one of the 23 regions of Chad, located in the south of the country. Its capital is Sarh. The former prefecture of the same name was larger and included modern Mandoul Region.
Geography
The region bor ...
*
Chari–Nile languages
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. T ...
*
Chari River topics
*
Lake Chad topics
*
Lake Chad replenishment project
*
Waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...
References
{{Authority control
International rivers of Africa
Rivers of Cameroon
Rivers of the Central African Republic
Rivers of Chad
Lake Chad
Cameroon–Chad border