Chad is one of the world's most linguistically complex countries, with over 120 distinct languages spanning at least four major phyla: Afro-Asiatic (including Arabic and Hausa), Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Central Sudanic. Chadian Arabic — a variety significantly different from Modern Standard Arabic — evolved as the dominant trade language of the Sahel zone and is spoken as a first or second language across much of central and northern Chad. The Sara language cluster, spoken by settled agricultural communities of the south, was the demographic backbone of the French colonial army; French colonial rule (1900–1960) established French as the language of administration and education. At independence in 1960, Chad retained both French and Arabic as official languages, a reflection of the country's geographic and cultural position straddling the Arabic-speaking Saharan north and the sub-Saharan south. The country's location at the crossroads of trans-Saharan trade routes for over a millennium has made multilingualism the norm rather than the exception, with most Chadians speaking two or more languages in daily life.
