Moundou
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Moundou ماوندو |
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 Moundou
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| Coordinates: 8°34′N 16°05′E / 8.567°N 16.083°ECoordinates: 8°34′N 16°05′E / 8.567°N 16.083°E | |
| Country |
 Chad
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| Region | Logone Occidental Region |
| Department | Lac Wey |
| Sub-Prefecture | Moundou |
| Elevation | 413 m (1,355 ft) |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Total | 137,929 |
| Time zone | +1 |
Moundou (Arabic: ماوندو) is the second largest city in Chad, and is the capital of the region of Logone Occidental.
The city lies on the Mbéré River (a tributary of the Western Logone) some 475 kilometres south of the capital N'Djamena. It is the main city of the Ngambai people. Moundou has grown as an industrial centre, home to the Gala Brewery, which produces Chad's most popular beer and the cotton and oil industries.
In 1916, the military conquest of Chad was completed. After this date, however, movements of resistance to the colonial regime took place. It was especially in the southwest of the country that dissensions continued until about 1930: in the Middle Logone, the administrator Robert Reverdy subjected the region of Moundou; the mossy country was won thanks to the action of the paramount chief Ouaïdou.
The city was created on November 8, 1923 by the French sergeant and administrator Joseph-François Reste, Lieutenant-General of Chad from 1923 to 1926 and future Governor General of French Equatorial Africa, who, from the whaleboat upon which he navigated the Logone, found the site pretty. He decided to found the post of Moundou in the centre of the rebellious zone. The situation did not really change with the arrival of Lieutenant Robert Reverdy. Chief of the district of the Middle Logone in 1925, Reverdy, who became a director in 1927, completed an uninterrupted stay for five years and eight months. He moved the chief town of the district to Moundou In 1927. Riding the country relentlessly, on horseback and by litter, he tackled the organisation of strong chieftains, first of village, then of township.
On April 20, 1930, Governor Georges Prouteaux of Oubangi-Chari (the district was attached to Oubangui-Chari in 1926) signed a decision reorganising the "indigenous of the Middle Logone" by creating forty cantons, divided into five subdivisions. Reverdy had his right-hand man, Hassan Moundou or Hassan Baguirmi, of Baguirmian or rather of Baguirmianised Dekakire Arab origin, which he installed as chief of the township of Moundou. Many chiefs were little greedy and cruel tyrants. They were not all of traditional origin. In this animist country, custom only recognised clan chiefs, war or initiation leaders, strictly specialised and temporary. However, the system was accepted by the population and some chiefs remained in office for more than a quarter of a century. Their descendants are still in place today.
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Wikipedia