Chad

Coordinates: 15°N 19°E / 15°N 19°E / 15; 19

Chad (ⁱ/tʃæd/; Arabic: تشاد‎ Tshād; French: Tchad), officially the Republic of Chad (Arabic: جمهورية تشاد‎ Jumhūrīyat Tshād; French: République du Tchad), is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest and Niger to the west. It is the fifth largest country in Africa in terms of area.

Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second-largest in Africa. N'Djamena, the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François Tombalbaye. Resentment towards his policies in the Muslim north culminated in the eruption of a long-lasting civil war in 1965. In 1979, the rebels conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselves until Hissène Habré defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in 1990 by his general Idriss Déby. Since 2003, the Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees living in and around camps in eastern Chad.

Chad Dawson

Chad Dawson (born July 13, 1982) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time former WBC light heavyweight champion, a former IBF and The Ring magazine light heavyweight champion, and was ranked #10 pound for pound by The Ring in May 2012.

Early life

Dawson was born to Rick Dawson, a former boxer who compiled a 1-6-1 record, and Wanda Dawson. Chad Dawson has four brothers and two sisters. In search of work, Rick Dawson moved the family to New Haven, Connecticut in 1988. Dawson attended James Hillhouse High School from 1996 to 2000.

Career

Middleweight

Dawson, a southpaw, made his professional debut after finishing 67-13 as an amateur and winning an under 19 national championship, then finishing for the silver in the world championships on August 18, 2001. He started at middleweight, moving up to super middleweight where he earned victories over notable opponents such as Ian Gardner and Carl Daniels.

Dawson's career was temporarily derailed when he failed a post-fight drug test in 2004 for marijuana. He was suspended from fighting for 6 months. Dawson indicated that this proved to be a motivating factor in his rise as a light heavyweight. Because of this, Dawson's streak of 14 consecutive wins ended when a March 27, 2004 bout against Aundalen Sloan resulted in a no-contest.