CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Chad–Niger border

international border

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ3089174
Source-derived summary

The Chad–Niger border is 1,196 km (743 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Libya in the north, to the tripoint with Nigeria in the south.

Description

The border consists of a series of mostly straight lines. The northern section of the boundary begins near the Tibesti Mountains at the Libyan tripoint and proceeds roughly south-eastwards; the border here cuts across the Massif d'Afafi and the Erg of Bilma. The middle section of the boundary slants to the south-west slightly, with the southern section continuing in a much more pronounced south-westerly direction down to Lake Chad, whereupon a straight line veering to the south-east connects the border to the Nigerian tripoint. The majority of border lies within the Sahara Desert, with the more southerly sections lying within the Sahel. The border region is very sparsely populated, there being no towns or villages in its immediate vicinity.

History

The border first emerged during the Scramble for Africa, a period of intense competition between European powers in the later 19th century for territory and influence in Africa. The process culminated in the Berlin Conference of 1884, in which the European nations concerned agreed upon their respective territorial claims and the rules of engagements going forward. As a result of this France gained control of the upper valley of the Niger River (roughly equivalent to the areas of modern Mali and Niger), and also the lands explored by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza for France in Central Africa (roughly equivalent to modern Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville). From these bases the French explored further into the interior, eventually linking the two areas following expeditions in April 1900 which met at Kousséri in the far north of modern Cameroon.

Editorial summary

“Chad–Niger border” enters the record as international border. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chad, Niger and border can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1884, 1900—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Chad, Niger and border.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Chad–Niger border” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Chad, Niger and border provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3089174. Authority coordinates are 23.139, 14.996. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1884 and 1900.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Chad–Niger border”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Chad–Niger border primary sources, Chad–Niger border archive and Chad research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chad–Niger border”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Chad–Niger border” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.