Editing N'Djamena (section)

== History ==

=== Early 20th century ===
[[File:Ndjamena 1952.jpg|thumb|A street in N'Djamena, 1952]]

N'Djamena was founded as '''Fort-Lamy''' by French commander [[Émile Gentil]] on 29 May 1900, and named after [[Amédée-François Lamy]], an army officer who had been killed in the [[Battle of Kousséri]] about a month earlier.<ref>Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2013, p. 208</ref><ref name="inpictures">{{cite book |title=Chad in Pictures |first=Christine |last=Zurocha-Walske |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kkB1GaR2SXEC&pg=PT19 |page=17 |isbn=978-1-57505-956-3 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |access-date=2015-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430061439/https://books.google.com/books?id=kkB1GaR2SXEC&pg=PT19 |archive-date=2016-04-30 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was a major trading city and became the capital of the region and nation.

During the [[Second World War]], the French relied upon the city's airport to move troops and supplies.<ref name="encyclo">{{cite book |first=Tiyambe |last=Zeleza |author2=Dickson Eyoh |title=Encyclopedia of twentieth-century African history |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kjUHZrPBPPYC&pg=PA379 |page=379 |isbn=978-0-415-23479-5 |year=2003 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |access-date=2015-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519115813/https://books.google.com/books?id=kjUHZrPBPPYC&pg=PA379 |archive-date=2016-05-19 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 21 January 1942, a lone [[Germany|German]] [[Heinkel He 111]] of the [[Sonderkommando Blaich]] successfully bombed the airfield at Fort-Lamy, destroying oil supplies and ten aircraft.<ref>[http://www.wefly.ifield-park.co.uk/photogal/me1082.htm MESSERSCHMITT Bf 108 – 'TAIFUN'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323101717/http://www.wefly.ifield-park.co.uk/photogal/me1082.htm |date=2012-03-23}} accessed: 29 April 2011</ref>

Fort-Lamy received its first bank branch in 1950, when the Paris-based [[Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale]] opened a branch there.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

=== Late 20th century ===
On 6 April 1973, [[Heads of state of Chad|President]] [[François Tombalbaye]]<ref name="inpictures"/> changed the city's name to N'Djamena (taken from the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] name of a nearby village, ''Niǧāmīnā'', meaning "place of rest") as part of his ''[[Authenticité (Chad)|authenticité]]'' program of [[Africanization]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rice |first=Eleanor |date=3 Feb 1974 |title=Nationalism, Drought Make the News in Chad |language=en |pages=91 |work=[[Arizona Daily Star]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/166479676 |url-access=subscription |access-date=31 May 2023}}</ref> The city was occupied by [[Libya]] during the 1980–81 Libyan intervention as part of the [[Chadian–Libyan conflict]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|title=N'Djamena (Chad)|year=2009|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/407350/NDjamena|access-date=29 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325015200/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/407350/NDjamena|archive-date=25 March 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> and the associated [[Transitional Government of National Unity (Chad)|Transitional Government of National Unity]].<ref>{{Country study |country=Chad |abbr=td |section=Civil War and Multilateral Mediation, 1979–82 |author=Collelo, Thomas |editor= |date=December 1988 |pd=no}}</ref>

The city was partly destroyed during the [[Transitional Government of National Unity (Chad)|Chadian Civil War]], in 1979 and again in 1980. In these years, almost all of the population fled the town, seeking refuge on the opposite bank of the [[Chari River]] in Cameroon, next to the city of [[Kousséri]]. The residents did not return until 1981–82, after the end of the clashes. Until 1984, facilities and services were subject to strict rationing, and schools remained closed.<ref>Samuel Decalo, ''Historical Dictionary of Chad'', Scarecrow, 1987, pp. 229–230</ref>

The period of turmoil in the city was started by the abortive coup attempted by the northerner Prime Minister [[Hissène Habré]] against the southerner President [[Félix Malloum]]: while Malloum and the national army loyal to him were defeated, the intervention in the battle of other northern factions rival to that of Habré complicated the situation. A temporary truce was reached in 1979 through international mediation, establishing the warlord [[Goukouni Oueddei]] as head of a government of national unity with his rival Habré as Defense Minister. The intense rivalry between Goukouni and Habré caused the eruption of new clashes in the city in 1980; N'Djamena found itself divided into sectors controlled by the various warlords. The tug-of-war reached a conclusion after many months only when Goukouni asked for the intervention of the Libyans, whose tanks overwhelmed Habré's defenses in the capital.<ref>Robert Buijtenhuijs, ''Le Frolinat et les guerres civiles du Tchad'', Karthala, 1987, pp. 67–175</ref>
{{Historical populations
|1937|9,976
|1940|12,552
|1947|18,375
|1960|60,000
|1970|130,000
|1993|530,965
|2000|728,000
|2009|951,418
|2012|1,092,066
|2019|1,360,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html |title=Major Agglomerations of the World – Population Statistics and Maps |publisher=Citypopulation.de |access-date=2019-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913144137/http://citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html |archive-date=2018-09-13 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Following differences between Goukouni and [[Muammar Gaddafi]] and international disapproval of Libyan intervention, the Libyan troops left the capital and Chad in 1981. This opened the door to Habré, who marched on N'Djamena, occupying the city with little resistance in 1982 and installing himself as the new president.<ref>R. Buijtenhuijs, ''Le Frolinat et les guerres civiles du Tchad'', pp. 177–225</ref> He was eventually dislodged in a similar fashion in 1990 by a former general of his, [[Idriss Déby]].{{citation needed|date = May 2013}}

The city had only 9,976 inhabitants in 1937, but a decade later, in 1947, the population had almost doubled to 18,435. In 1968, after independence, the population reached 126,483. In 1993, it surpassed half a million with 529,555. A good deal of this growth has been due to refugees fleeing into N'Djamena for security, although many people fled N'Djamena, also depending on the political situation.<ref name="encyclo"/> The city surpassed the million mark in population by the early 2010s.

=== 21st century ===
On 13 April 2006, a rebel [[United Front for Democratic Change]] attack on the city was defeated<ref>{{Cite news |date=2006-04-14 |title=UN condemns rebel attack in Chad |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4908836.stm |url-status=live |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209213918/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4908836.stm |archive-date=2008-02-09}}</ref> in the [[Battle of N'Djamena (2006)|Battle of N'Djamena]]. The city was once again attacked on 2 February 2008, by [[UFDD]] and [[Rally of Democratic Forces (rebel group)|RFC]] rebels.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22962528|title=Rebels clash with Chadian forces inside capital|publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=February 2, 2008|access-date=February 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204023054/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22962528/|archive-date=February 4, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> (''See [[Battle of N'Djamena (2008)]]'')