The well-drained soils around Lake Chad once supported a relatively dense woodland, including species such as kapok and ebony. Changing patterns of land use and progressive degradation have reduced diversity and resulted in a more open woodland increasingly composed of species adapted to reduced moisture. They include several acacias, baobab, desert date, palms, African myrrh, and Indian jujube. The periodically inundated lands near the lake are more heavily vegetated. Annual grasses are increasing at the expense of the more economically valuable perennial species. Papyrus, ambatch, water lilies, and reeds dominate aquatic vegetation.

Animal life

Visitors to the medieval kingdom of Kanem in the Lake Chad region described an abundance of wildlife; until the early 20th century essentially the same faunal assemblages were reported. Since then, however, habitat loss, hunting, and direct competition from livestock have depleted wildlife populations. As with vegetation, the trend is toward decreased diversity and lower levels of biological productivity. Large carnivores, including lions and leopards, have been eliminated in livestock areas; and other large animals such as rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses have been reduced or eliminated. Nocturnal species have been less affected by these changes; and some, particularly rodents, have benefited from them.

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Hundreds of species of birds reside permanently or seasonally in the Lake Chad region. Included are prominent terrestrial birds—such as ostriches, secretary birds, Nubian bustards, and ground hornbills—and the water and shore birds for which the region is famous—such as the garganeys, shovelers, fulvous tree ducks, Egyptian geese, pink-backed pelicans, marabou storks, glossy ibises, and African spoonbills. Included among the amphibians and reptiles are Nile crocodiles, rock pythons, and spitting cobras. The Chad basin remains an important fishery, with more than 40 species of commercial importance. Also noteworthy are such ancient species as the lungfish and sailfin.

Settlement history

The Chad basin contains the earliest evidence of hominin occupation yet found in western Africa, and it appears that the Lake Chad region has been continuously settled since 500 bce. Among the major archaeological discoveries of the region has been the Sao civilization; it is believed that the modern Kotoko, a fishing people on the Chari near Lake Chad, are descendants of the Sao.

During the medieval period (9th to 16th century) the Lake Chad region was both an important refuge and an area in which diverse populations were consolidated by the authority of powerful kingdoms. The modern Kanembu, for example, are composed of several groups consolidated by Kanem in the 9th century; similarly, the modern Kanuri emerged from the imposed authority of Kanem’s successor state, Bornu, located southwest of Lake Chad. Some ethnic groups were not assimilated. The metallurgists of Kanem, for example, were apparently the Danoa (Haddad), who currently serve as blacksmiths among the Kanembu. Other groups resisted integration into the medieval kingdoms. The Yedina (Buduma) established themselves among the inaccessible islands and along the marshy northern shore of Lake Chad, and the Kuri did the same in inaccessible areas along the eastern margin of the lake.

Other ethnic groups established themselves on the shores of Lake Chad in the more recent past. Arab settlement dates from the arrival of the Judam peoples in the 16th century. Some ethnic groups, such as Fulani pastoralists, now enter the Lake Chad lowlands on a seasonal basis; and Hausa agricultural communities can often be found along the lake. The economy of these modern peoples of the Lake Chad region is based primarily on fishing, subsistence and commercial agriculture, and animal husbandry—often in combination.

Agriculture and forestry

Subsistence crops include sorghum, corn (maize), African millet, beans, and vegetables. Bottle gourds are grown widely for making utensils. Polders (tracts of lowlands reclaimed from a body of water) near Bol, used to grow cash crops, are based on traditional agricultural practices. Cultivated by the Kanembu and Yedina, the polders are devoted chiefly to wheat.

The exploitation of such forest products as gum arabic, honey, beeswax, and firewood is of considerable importance in the region. Production of these, however, has been adversely affected by the decline of the forested areas, aggravated by the explosive growth of cattle populations.

Livestock and fishing

Cattle are the most important livestock raised. Notable breeds include the Kuri (Chad) and several varieties of zebu (Brahman). Milk is a major component of local diets, and cattle are an important export to the tsetse-infested regions to the south. Poultry, goats, sheep, camels, horses, and asses are also kept. Livestock raising was sharply affected by the drought of the 1970s and ’80s.

Fishing, traditionally the most important economic activity for the peoples of the lake, all but ceased during the drought and resumed only in the mid-1990s. Much of the catch is dried, salted, or smoked. Dried Alestes species, known by the name salanga, and pieces of smoked fish called banda are marketed, primarily in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Minerals

Petroleum reserves have been discovered in Chad and Niger. Natron (hydrated sodium carbonate), found in depressions along the northeastern shore of the lake, has long been economically important. Traditionally, it is excavated in blocks and shipped across the lake, where it enters Nigerian commerce.

Transportation

Lake Chad is little used for commercial navigation, although there has been intermittent barge traffic between Bol and N’Djamena since the early 1950s. A variety of watercraft are used in fishing, including the papyrus-reed kadeï of the Yedina and the sewn-plank boats of the Kotoko.