Beginnin in the 7t millennium BC, human populations muivit intae the Chadian basin in great numbers. Bi the end o the 1st millennium BC, a series o states an empires rose an fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controllin the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. Fraunce conquered the territory bi 1920 an incorporated it as part o French Equatorial Africae.