Wadai

Wadai (wädī`), former sultanate, N Chad, E of Lake Chad. Founded in the 16th cent., it was from time to time loosely subject to Darfur. Toward the end of the 19th cent., Wadai came under the influence of the Sanusi. The sultanate was gradually taken over (1903–13) by the French.

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Wadai

Historical African kingdom, central Africa. Located east of Lake Chad and west of Darfur, it was founded in the 16th century. A Muslim dynasty was established there c. 1630, and, though long subordinate to Darfur, it became independent by the 1790s and began a period of rapid expansion. It came under French influence in 1899 and French control (1912–14). The area is now largely in eastern Chad.

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Wadai

a former independent sultanate of NE central Africa: now the E part of Chad

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Wadai 

(also Waddai or Ouaddaï), until the beginning of the 20th century a state in the central Sudan (on the territory of present-day Chad). The Wadai state emerged early in the second millennium A.D. The dominant nationality, the Maba, have been Islamicized since the 17th century. The state was divided into provinces, whose governors kept part of the taxes for their own use. In the 19th century in the districts inhabited by the Maba, feudal-dependent peasants paid a fixed rent, and slave labor was used. On the frontiers populated by non-Muslims, Wadai nobles collected an unlimited tribute. After stubborn resistance (1908-11), the Wadai territory was conquered by the French and was made part of the Ubangi-Chari-Chad colony (French Equatorial Africa).

REFERENCES

Istoriia Afriki v XlX-nachale XX v. Moscow, 1967. Pages 22, 321-22.
Carbou, H. La région de Tchad et du Ouadaï, vols. 1-2. Paris, 1912.