La conquête du lac Fitri au Tchad Central depuis le 16e siècle: controverse autour du récit historique entre les Bilala et les Arabes Djaatne.

Abstract

In the Sahel in general and in Chad in particular, natural resources are at the heart of disputes between administrative districts and traditional units. All means are good, as long as they help to achieve your ends. This is how history is often invoked to claim or to justify a claim on a territory, an area rich in natural resources. This article traces the history of the Djaatné Arab claim to Lake Fitri while this territory is officially recognized as the historic basin of the kingdom. Our methodology insists on the cross-referencing of all data that can help to reveal historical truth: these are field surveys, archives, the oldest and most recent documents. This simple method allowed us to highlight in this article the convergences of numerous documents on the theses supported by the Bilala, while the assertions of the Djaatné Arabs are weakly detailed and justified.

Keywords: Conquest, Bilala, Djaatné Arabs, history, migration, territory, natural resource.