BORKOU-ENNEDI-TIBESTI

northernmost and largest prfecture of Chad, with an area of 231,795 sq mi (600,350 sq km). Its capital is Faya (formerly Largeau). The terrain is primarily arid desert with a sparse population of nomadic and semi-nomadic Arabs, Berbers, Tedas, and Nakazas. The region was historically important as a crossing place in the trans-Saharan trade between West Africa and Cyrenaica (Libya); the Islamic pilgrimage route from West Africa to Mecca in Saudi Arabia also passed through it. In the early 1900s it came under French control when the resistance of the Sanusi brotherhood was somewhat subdued. Nevertheless, the area was considered ungovernable, and, following Chad's independence in 1960, it remained under French military administration. In 1965 the French withdrew at Chad's request, and the region was incorporated into the Chad republic; but its nomadic tribes continued to resist the autocratic, southern-dominated central government. Pop. (1988 est.) 109,000.