Editing Geography of Chad (section)

==Geographical placement==
[[File:Chad sat.jpg|thumb|250px|A satellite image of Chad.]]
[[File:Chad nasa satellite.png|thumb|250px|A satellite image of Chad.]]
[[File:Chad Topography.png|thumb|250px|A topographic map of Chad.]]
Located in north-central Africa, Chad stretches for about 1,800 kilometers from its northernmost point to its southern boundary.<ref name=":0">{{citation-attribution|1={{Cite encyclopedia|title=Chad: A Country Study|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/89600373/|date=1990|publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]]|editor-last=Collelo|editor-first=Thomas|isbn=0-16-024770-5|edition=2nd|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=35–42}}}}</ref> Except in the far northwest and south, where its borders converge, Chad's average width is about 800 kilometers.<ref name=":0" /> Its area of 1,284,000 square kilometers is roughly equal to the combined areas of [[Idaho]], [[Wyoming]], [[Utah]], [[Nevada]], and [[Arizona]].<ref name=":0" /> Chad's neighbors include [[Libya]] to the north, [[Niger]] and [[Nigeria]] to the west, [[Sudan]] to the east, [[Central African Republic]] to the south, and [[Cameroon]] to the southwest.<ref name=":0" />

Chad exhibits two striking geographical characteristics.<ref name=":0" /> First, the country is landlocked.<ref name=":0" /> [[N'Djamena]], the capital, is located more than 1,100 kilometers northeast of the [[Atlantic Ocean]]; [[Abéché]], a major city in the east, lies 2,650 kilometers from the [[Red Sea]]; and [[Faya-Largeau]], a much smaller but strategically important center in the north, is in the middle of the [[Sahara Desert]], 1,550 kilometers from the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name=":0" /> These vast distances from the sea have had a profound impact on Chad's historical and contemporary development.<ref name=":0" />

The second noteworthy characteristic is that the country borders on very different parts of the African continent: [[North Africa]], with its [[Islamic culture]] and economic orientation toward the [[Mediterranean Basin]]; and [[West Africa]], with its diverse religions and cultures and its history of highly developed states and regional economies.<ref name=":0" />

Chad also borders [[Horn of Africa|Northeast Africa]], oriented toward the [[Nile|Nile Valley]] and the Red Sea region - and Central or Equatorial Africa, some of whose people have retained classical African religions while others have adopted [[Christianity]], and whose economies were part of the great [[Congo River]] system.<ref name=":0" /> Although much of Chad's distinctiveness comes from this diversity of influences, since independence the diversity has also been an obstacle to the creation of a national identity.<ref name=":0" />