Niger the beginning of the 20th century. What is now Niger was created from four distinct cultural areas in the pre-colonial era: the Zarma dominated Niger River valley in the southwest; the northern periphery of Hausaland, made mostly of those states which had resisted the Sokoto Caliphate, and ranged along the long southern border with Nigeria; the Lake Chad basin and Kaouar in the far east, populated by Kanuri farmers and Toubou pastoralists who had once been part of the Kanem-Bornu Empire; and the Tuareg nomads of the Aïr Mountains and Saharan desert in the vast north. Each of these communities,
Languages of Chad teachers for the deaf train in Nigeria. ("Ethnologue" lists 54 Chadic languages in Chad altogether, many of them small.) Languages of Chad Chad has two official languages, French and Modern Standard Arabic, and over 120 indigenous languages. A vernacular version of Arabic, Chadian Arabic, is the lingua franca. Of the two official languages, French has the most speakers in Chad (though Chadian Arabic has more speakers in Chad than both French and Standard Arabic) . Chad submitted an application to join the Arab League as a member state on 25 March 2014, which is still pending. Chadian Sign Language is