Portal:Central African Republic

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The Central African Republic Portal

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, at the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi). , it had an estimated population of around 5.5 million. , the Central African Republic is the scene of a civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012.

Most of the Central African Republic 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 ruled the country as a colony starting in the late 19th century. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders, including an abortive attempt at a monarchy under the regime of Jean-Bedel Bokassa.

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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The wildlife of the Central African Republic is in the vast natural habitat in the Central African Republic (CAR) located between the Congo Basin's rain forests and large savannas, where the human density was smaller than 0.5 per km² prior to 1850. The forest area of 22.755 million, considered one of the richest storehouses of wildlife spread over national parks, hunting reserves and community hunting areas, experienced an alarming loss of wildlife because of greed for ivory and bushmeat exploitation by hunters – mostly Arab slavers from across the borders of the Central African Republic with Chad and Sudan.

Realizing the serious threat to the wildlife, the colonists – French administration – in 1935 and later the government of the CAR, enacted laws and created national parks and preserves, which covered 16.6% of the country. The three most coveted national parks are the Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park with its reported "greatest concentrations of hippos in the world", the Bamingui-Bangoran National Park in the north; and the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve which covers rain forests. The Manovo-Gounda-Saint-Floris National Park, in particular was inscribed to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in 1988 in recognition of the diversity of life present within it in respect of its wealth of flora and fauna. In 2014, the Chinko Nature Reserve in eastern CAR was granted management through a public-private partnership with the Central African Republic Ministry of Wildlife, Water and Forestry and African Parks, a conservation NGO that takes on the direct, long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments to save wildlife, restore landscapes and ensure sustainable livelihoods for local communities. African Parks has a mandate to manage this protected area, now referred to as the Chinko Project, for the next 50 years. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Falls of Boali on the Mbali River. (from Central African Republic)
Image 2First Central African President David Dacko in 1962 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 3Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 4Current military situation in Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 5Séléka advances in C.A.R. (December 2012–March 2013) (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 6A French cuisine boulangerie in Bangui (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 7Trucks in Bangui (from Central African Republic)
Image 8Worshippers at the Bangui Cathedral. Christianity is the main religion in the Central African Republic. (from Central African Republic)
Image 9Faustin Touadera succeeded interim head Catherine Samba-Panza to become president following the 2015–16 elections (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 10Rebel in northern Central African Republic in 2007. (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 11President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 23 May 2018 (from Central African Republic)
Image 12Refugees of the fighting in the Central African Republic, January 2014 (from Central African Republic)
Image 13The 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 14Fula women in Paoua (from Central African Republic)
Image 15Fufu (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 16GDP per capita (2022 US$) (from Central African Republic)
Image 17Jean-Bédel Bokassa, self-crowned Emperor of Central Africa. (from Central African Republic)
Image 18Palm wine (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 19Mothers 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 20A village in the Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 21A proportional representation of Central African Republic exports, 2019 (from Central African Republic)
Image 22Dzanga-Sangha Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 23The Sultan of Bangassou and his wives, 1906 (from Central African Republic)
Image 24Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 11 April 2019 (from Central African Republic)
Image 25Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from Central African Republic)
Image 26Location of the Central African Republic (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 27A food aid convoy in the Central African Republic in 2007 (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 28Rebel militia in the northern countryside, 2007 (from Central African Republic)
Image 29A 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 30A Central African woman (from Central African Republic)
Image 31Bangui shopping district (from Central African Republic)
Image 32The Aka Pygmies living in the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 33Central African Republic map of Köppen climate classification (from Central African Republic)
Image 34Classroom in Sam Ouandja. (from Central African Republic)

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

Lieutenant Colonel Alexandre Banza (10 October 1932 – 12 April 1969) was a military officer and politician in the Central African Republic. Born in Carnot, Ubangi-Shari, Banza served with the French Army during the First Indochina War before joining the Central African Armed Forces. As commander of the Camp Kassaï military base in 1965, Banza helped Jean-Bédel Bokassa overthrow the government of President David Dacko. Bokassa rewarded Banza by appointing him as minister of state and minister of finance in the new government. Banza quickly established the new regime's reputation abroad and forged diplomatic relations with other countries. In 1967, Bokassa and his protégé had a major argument over the president's extravagances. In April 1968, Bokassa removed Banza as minister of finance. Recognizing Bokassa's attempts to undermine him, Banza made a number of remarks highly critical of the president's handling of the government. Bokassa responded by abolishing the minister of state position.

Banza soon decided to stage a coup d'état. He confided in a few military officers, who he hoped would support his attempt to gain power. One of his confidants, Jean-Claude Mandaba, contacted the president and informed him of the date of the coup, 9 April 1969. Hours before he was going to execute his bid for power, Banza was ambushed by Mandaba and taken directly to Bokassa. Bokassa nearly beat Banza to death before Mandaba suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance's sake. On 12 April, Banza presented his case to a military tribunal, which quickly sentenced him to death by firing squad. He was reportedly taken to an open field, where he was executed and buried in an unmarked grave. Alternate circumstances of Banza's death have been reported in Time and Le Monde. In the aftermath of the failed coup, Banza's family, mistress and close associates were all arrested and either sent to jail or deported. With Banza eliminated, Bokassa spent extravagantly and surrounded himself with adulators. (Full article...)

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

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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	—	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