Portal:Central African Republic

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The Central African Republic Portal

P:CENTRAL

Flag of the Central African Republic Coat of arms of the Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR), formerly known as Ubangi-Shari, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Bangui is the country's capital and largest city, bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi). As of 2024, it has a population of 5,357,744, and is in the scene of a civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012. As a former French colony, French is the official language, with Sango, a Ngbandi-based creole language as the national and co-official language.

The Central African Republic mainly consists of Sudano-Guinean savannas, but the country also includes a Sahelo-Sudanian zone in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south. Two-thirds of the country is within the Ubangi River basin (which flows into the Congo), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari, which flows into Lake Chad.

What is today the Central African Republic has been inhabited since at least 8,000 BCE. The country's borders were established by France, which began annexing portions to the French Congo in the late 19th century and in 1903 established the separate colony of Ubangi-Shari, part of French Equatorial Africa. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders, including under Jean-Bedel Bokassa who changed the country's name to the Central African Empire and ruled as a monarch from 1976 to 1979.

By the 1990s, calls for democracy led to the first multi-party democratic elections in 1993. Ange-Félix Patassé became president, but was later removed by General François Bozizé in a 2003 coup. The Central African Republic Bush War began in 2004 and, despite a peace treaty in 2007 and another in 2011, civil war resumed in 2012. The civil war perpetuated the country's poor human rights record: it was characterized by widespread and increasing abuses by various participating armed groups, such as arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of movement. (Full article...)

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Bozizé in 2007

François Bozizé Yangouvonda (born 14 October 1946) is a Central African politician who was President of the Central African Republic from 2003 to 2013. He was the only Central African president born in modern-day Gabon.

Bozizé rose to become a high-ranking army officer in the 1970s, under the rule of Jean-Bédel Bokassa. After Bokassa was ousted, Bozizé served in the government as Minister of Defense from 1979 to 1981 and as Minister of Information from 1981 to 1982. He participated in a failed 1982 coup attempt against President André Kolingba and subsequently fled the country. Years later, he served as Army Chief of Staff under President Ange-Félix Patassé, but began a rebellion against Patassé in 2001. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Central African Republic-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Refugees of the fighting in the Central African Republic, January 2014 (from Central African Republic)
Image 2Trucks in Bangui (from Central African Republic)
Image 3A Central African woman (from Central African Republic)
Image 4Fufu (pictured right) is a staple food of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding the mixture with a mortar and pestle. Peanut soup is pictured at left (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 5First Central African President David Dacko in 1962 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 6Bangui shopping district (from Central African Republic)
Image 7Classroom in Sam Ouandja. (from Central African Republic)
Image 8A soldier with France's 11th Marine Artillery Regiment during military exercises in the Central African Republic in 1992 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 9Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 10The Sultan of Bangassou and his wives, 1906 (from Central African Republic)
Image 11Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with US President Joe Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden, 14 December 2022 (from Central African Republic)
Image 12Current military situation in Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 13A proportional representation of Central African Republic exports, 2019 (from Central African Republic)
Image 14The Bouar Megaliths, pictured here on a 1967 Central African stamp, date back to the very late Neolithic Era (c. 3500–2700 BCE). (from Central African Republic)
Image 15President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 23 May 2018 (from Central African Republic)
Image 16Mothers and babies aged between 0 and 5 years are lining up in a Health Post at Begoua, a district of Bangui, waiting for the two drops of the oral polio vaccine. (from Central African Republic)
Image 17Faustin Touadera succeeded interim head Catherine Samba-Panza to become president following the 2015–16 elections (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 18A food aid convoy in the Central African Republic in 2007 (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 19Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from Central African Republic)
Image 20Worshippers at the Bangui Cathedral. Christianity is the main religion in the Central African Republic. (from Central African Republic)
Image 21Séléka advances in C.A.R. (December 2012–March 2013) (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 22Rebel militia in the northern countryside, 2007 (from Central African Republic)
Image 23Aka hunter-gatherers living in the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 24Central African Republic map of Köppen climate classification (from Central African Republic)
Image 25GDP per capita (2022 USD) (from Central African Republic)
Image 26Jean-Bédel Bokassa, self-crowned Emperor of Central Africa (from Central African Republic)
Image 27Palm wine (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 28Dzanga-Sangha Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 29Fula women in Paoua (from Central African Republic)
Image 30A village in the Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 31Location of the Central African Republic (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 32Falls of Boali on the Mbali River. (from Central African Republic)
Image 33A French cuisine boulangerie in Bangui (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 34Rebel in northern Central African Republic in 2007. (from History of the Central African Republic)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that a former member of the French Senate ended up being exiled to the northern Central African Republic by the future emperor?

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From left to right, top to bottom: Oubangui Hotel, shores of Bangui, Bangui Shopping District, pedestrian crossing, view of a street

Bangui (French pronunciation: [bɑ̃ɡi]; or Bangui in Sango, formerly written Bangui in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi River (French: Oubangui); the Ubangi itself was named from the Bobangi word for the "rapids" located beside the settlement, which marked the end of navigable water north from Brazzaville. The majority of the population of the Central African Republic lives in the western parts of the country, in Bangui and the surrounding area.

The city has been part of Bangui Prefecture since December 2020. As of 2020^[update] it had an estimated population of 889,231. (Full article...)

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Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état Barthélemy Boganda Central African Republic women's national football team Alexandre Banza Central African Republic at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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WikiProject Central African Republic

WikiProject Africa

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Cities

Largest Central African Republic cities
Rank	City / town	Préfecture	Population (2003 census)
1	Bangui	—	622,771
2	Bimbo	Ombella-M'Poko	124,176
3	Berbérati	Mambéré-Kadéï	76,918
4	Carnot *	Mambéré-Kadéï	45,421
5	Bambari	Ouaka	41,356
6	Bouar	Nana-Mambéré	40,353
7	Bossangoa	Ouham	36,478
8	Bria	Haute-Kotto	35,204
9	Bangassou	Mbomou	31,553
10	Nola	Sangha-Mbaéré	29,181
11	Kaga-Bandoro	Nana-Grébizi	24,661
12	Sibut	Kémo	22,419
13	Mbaïki	Lobaye	22,166
14	Bozoum	Ouham-Pendé	20,655