Portal:Central African Republic

The Central African Republic Portal

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

The Central African Republic (CAR) 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. 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, consisting of about 80 ethnic groups. Having been a French colony under the name Ubangi-Shari, Sango is its national language and also served as co-official language alongside French. Its capital and largest city is Bangui, which sits on the country's southern border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Central African Republic mainly consists of Sudano-Guinean savanna, but 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 basin of the Ubangi River (a tributary of the Congo River), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari River, which flows into Lake Chad.

The region has been inhabited since at least 8000 BCE. The 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 CAR was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders, including Jean-Bédel Bokassa who changed the country's name to the Central African Empire and ruled as a monarch from 1976 to 1979. The Central African 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, characterized by widespread and increasing abuses by various participating armed groups.

Despite the vast amounts of natural resources, such as uranium reserves, crude oil, gold, diamonds, cobalt, lumber, and hydropower, as well as significant quantities of arable land, the Central African Republic is among the ten poorest countries in the world, with the lowest GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) in the world as of 2017. As of 2023, according to the Human Development Index, the country had the third-lowest level of human development, ranking 191 out of 193 countries. The country had the second-lowest inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, ranking 164th out of 165 countries. It is the unhealthiest country and the worst country for young people. The Central African Republic is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the Non-Aligned Movement. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Alindao in 2018

Alindao is a town and sub-prefecture located in the Central African Republic prefecture of Basse-Kotto. It lies at the junction of the National Route 2 and 22. Alindao had a population of 14,401 as of the 2003 census; and a calculated 2013 population of 15,213. The town is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alindao. It has a small airport, Alindao Airport. A Catholic Mission was established at Alindao during French occupation under French Equatorial Africa. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images -

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

Image 1Location of the Central African Republic (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 2Köppen climate classification map of the Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 3President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 23 May 2018 (from Central African Republic)
Image 4Mothers with 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 5Prefectures of the Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 6A food aid convoy in the Central African Republic in 2007 (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 7Falls of Boali on the Mbali River (from Central African Republic)
Image 8Rebel in northern Central African Republic in 2007. (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 9Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from Central African Republic)
Image 10Séléka advances in C.A.R. (December 2012–March 2013) (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 11A French-style boulangerie in Bangui (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 12Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 13Faustin Touadera succeeded interim head Catherine Samba-Panza to become president following the 2015–16 elections (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 14Dzanga-Sangha Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 15GDP per capita (2022 USD) (from Central African Republic)
Image 16Refugees of the fighting in the Central African Republic, January 2014 (from Central African Republic)
Image 17Current military situation in Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 18Bangui shopping district (from Central African Republic)
Image 19Trucks in Bangui (from Central African Republic)
Image 20Rebel militia in the northern countryside, 2007 (from Central African Republic)
Image 21Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with US President Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, 14 December 2022 (from Central African Republic)
Image 22Jean-Bédel Bokassa, self-crowned Emperor of Central Africa (from Central African Republic)
Image 23Fula women in Paoua (from Central African Republic)
Image 24The Sultan of Bangassou and his wives, 1906 (from Central African Republic)
Image 25A 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 26Palm wine (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 27A village in the Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 28Aka hunter-gatherers living in the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 29A Central African woman (from Central African Republic)
Image 30First Central African President David Dacko in 1962 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 31Classroom in Sam Ouandja (from Central African Republic)
Image 32The 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 33Fufu (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 34Worshippers at the Bangui Cathedral. Christianity is the main religion in the Central African Republic. (from Central African Republic)

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Image 1

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the 1945–1948 Patriarch of the Universal Gnostic Church René Chambellant later became a Member of Parliament in the Central African Republic?

Recognized content -

Entries here consist of Featured articles and Good articles, which consist of high-quality content on English Wikipedia..

The Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état was a coup d'état staged by Jean-Bédel Bokassa, commander-in-chief of the Central African Republic (CAR) army, and his officers against the government of President David Dacko on 31 December 1965 and 1 January 1966. Dacko, Bokassa's cousin, took over the country in 1960, and Bokassa, an officer in the French army, joined the CAR army in 1962. By 1965, the country was in turmoil—plagued by corruption and slow economic growth, while its borders were breached by rebels from neighboring countries. Dacko obtained financial aid from the People's Republic of China, but despite this support, the country's problems persisted. Bokassa made plans to take over the government; Dacko was made aware of this, and attempted to counter by forming the gendarmerie headed by Jean Izamo, who quickly became Dacko's closest adviser.

With the aid of Captain Alexandre Banza, Bokassa started the coup New Year's Eve night in 1965. First, Bokassa and his men captured Izamo, locking him in a cellar at Camp de Roux. Bokassa's men then occupied the capital, Bangui, and overpowered the gendarmerie and other resistance. After midnight, Dacko headed back to the capital, where he was promptly arrested, forced to resign from office and then imprisoned at Camp Kassaï. According to official reports, eight people were killed during the takeover. By the end of January 1966, Izamo was tortured to death, but Dacko's life was spared because of a request from the French government, which Bokassa was trying to satisfy. Bokassa justified the coup by claiming he had to save the country from falling under the influence of communism, and cut off diplomatic relations with China. In the early days of his government, Bokassa dissolved the National Assembly, abolished the Constitution and issued a number of decrees, banning begging, female circumcision, and polygamy, among other things. Bokassa initially struggled to obtain international recognition for the new government. However, after a successful meeting with the president of Chad, Bokassa obtained recognition of the regime from other African nations, and eventually from France, the former colonial power. (Full article...)

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WikiProjects

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	N/a	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