four equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, green, and yellow with a vertical red band in center; there is a yellow five-pointed star on the hoist side of the blue band

Coat of Arms

• tropical; hot, dry winters; mild to hot, wet summers

• 7 00 N, 21 00 E

• total: 5,203 km
  border countries: Cameroon 797 km, Chad 1,197 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 1,577 km, Republic of the Congo 467 km, Sudan 1,165 km

• Central Africa , north of Democratic Republic of the Congo

• diamonds, uranium, timber, gold, oil, hydropower

• total: 622,984 sq km
  land: 622,984 sq km
  water: 0 sq km
• (Compare to other countries)

• vast, flat to rolling, monotonous plateau; scattered hills in northeast and southwest

• landlocked; almost the precise center of Africa

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National parks & reserves

• André Félix National Park
• Bamingui-Bangoran National Park
• St Floris National Park

Between about 1000 BC and 1000 CE, Adamawa-Eastern-speaking peoples spread eastward from Cameroon to Sudan and settled in most of the territory of the CAR. During the same period, a much smaller number of Bantu-speaking immigrants settled in southwestern CAR and some Central Sudanic-speaking populations settled along the northern borderlands with Chad. The majority of the CAR's inhabitants thus spreak Adamawa-Eastern languages or Bantu languages belonging to the Niger-Congo family. A minority speak Central Sudanic languages of the Nilo-Saharan family. More recent immigrants include many Muslim merchants who most often speak Arabic or Hausa.

Until the early 1880s, the peoples of the CAR lived beyond the expanding Islamic frontier in the Sudanic zone of Africa and thus had relatively little contact with world religions or the world economy. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, however, Muslim traders began increasingly to penetrate the region of the CAR and to cultivate special relations with local leaders in order to facilitate their trade and settlement in the region. The initial arrival of Muslim traders in the early 1800s was relatively peaceful and depended upon the support of local peoples, but after about 1850, Muslim slave traders with well-armed soldiers began to penetrate the region. Between circa 1860 and 1910, slave-raiders exported much of the population of northeastern CAR in particular, a region which has very few inhabitants today.

Europeans first began to arrive here in 1885, including French and Germans. In 1894 France took possession of the region and it become the colony of Ubangi-Shari. The area was developed into a plantation economy, and suffered periodic but small-scale revolts. On December 1, 1958 the nation became an autonomous republic, known as the Central African Republic, and gained its full independence on August 13, 1960.

The new nation quickly descended into dictatorship under the rule of its first president, David Dacko. In 1966 Dacko was overthrown by his cousin Jean-Bédel Bokassa who established a highly eccentric military dictatorship. In 1977 Bokassa proclaimed himself emperor and was crowned in a lavish and expensive ceremony (the shoes he wore set a world record for their costliness) based on that of his hero Napoleon Bonaparte that was ridiculed by much of the world. His human rights violations (which are said to have included cannibalism and the feeding of school children to crocodiles, amongst others) and movements against French interests prompted France to support a coup against him in 1979, restoring Dacko to power. A second coup occurred in 1981, and democracy began in 1993. In 2003 however, there was yet another coup, bringing François Bozizé to power. From Wikipedia.

The C.A.R. appears to have been settled from at least the 7th century on by overlapping empires, including the Kanem-Bornou, Ouaddai, Baguirmi, and Dafour groups based in Lake Chad and the Upper Nile.

Later, various sultanates claimed present-day C.A.R, using the entire Oubangui region as a slave reservoir, from which slaves were traded north across the Sahara and to West Africa for export by European traders.

After World War II, the French Constitution of 1946 inaugurated the first of a series of reforms that led eventually to complete independence for all French territories in western and equatorial Africa.

All A.E.F. inhabitants were granted French citizenship and allowed to establish local assemblies. The assembly in C.A.R. was led by Barthelemy Boganda, a Catholic priest who also was known for his forthright statements in the French Assembly on the need for African emancipation.

Salary arrears, labor unrest, and unequal treatment of military officers from different ethnic groups led to three mutinies against the Patasse government in 1996 and 1997.

The French succeeded in quelling the disturbances, and an African peacekeeping force (MISAB) occupied Bangui until 1998 when they were relieved by a UN peacekeeping mission (MINURCA).

In May rebel forces within the C.A.R. military, led by former President and Army General Andre Kolingba, attempted a military coup. After several days of heavy fighting, forces loyal to the government, aided by a small number of troops from Libya and the Congolese rebel Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), were able to put down the coup attempt.

In November, there were several days of sporadic gunfire between members of the Presidential Security Unit and soldiers defending sacked Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Francois Bozize, who fled to Chad.

Skirmishes on the C.A.R.-Chad border.

In October, former Army Chief of Staff Francois Bozize launched a coup attempt.

Francois Bozize led coup culminated in the March 15 overthrow of President Patasse and the takeover of the capital.

General Bozize declared himself President, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the National Assembly. Since seizing power, President Francois Bozize has made significant progress in restoring order to Bangui and parts of the country, and professed a desire to promote national reconciliation, strengthen the economy, and improve the human rights situation.

In spring, the country held its first elections since the March 2003 coup. The first round of presidential and legislative elections were held in March, and in May, President Bozize defeated former Prime Minister Martin Ziguele in a second-round runoff.

On June 13, Bozize named Elie Dote, an agricultural engineer who had worked at the African Development Bank, his new Prime Minister.

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• Baya 33%, Banda 27%, Mandjia 13%, Sara 10%, Mboum 7%, M'Baka 4%, Yakoma 4%, other 2%

• adult prevalence rate: 13.5% (2003 est.) (Compare to other countries)
• people living with HIV/AIDS: 260,000 (2003 est.) (Compare to other countries)

• total: 91 deaths/1,000 live births
  male: 97.84 deaths/1,000 live births
  female: 83.96 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), tribal languages

• total population: 41.01 years
  male: 39.21 years
  female: 42.86 years (2005 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• total population: 51%
  male: 63.3%
  female: 39.9% (2003 est.)

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• noun: Central African(s)
  adjective: Central African

• 3,799,897
  note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• 1.49% (2005 est.)

• indigenous beliefs 35%, Protestant 25%, Roman Catholic 25%, Muslim 15%
  note: animistic beliefs and practices strongly influence the Christian majority

School enrollment
(% relevant age group) From UNESCO.

• Net primary enrollment: NA
• Net secondary enrollment: NA

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• .5 children born/woman (2005 est.)
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• 14 prefectures: Bamingui-Bangoran, Basse-Kotto, Haute-Kotto, Haut-Mbomou, Kemo, Lobaye, Mambere-Kadei, Mbomou, Nana-Mambere, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouaka, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, , Vakaga;
• 2 economic prefectures: Nana-Grebizi, Sangha-Mbaere
• 1 commune- Bangui

• Bangui

• chief of state: President Francois BOZIZE (since 15 March 2003 coup)
  head of government: Prime Minister Elie DOTE (since 13 June 2005) note - Celestin GAOMBALET resigned 11 June 2005
  cabinet: Council of Ministers
  elections: president elected to five year term with a two-term limit; next presidential elections scheduled for 10 April 2005; prime minister appointed by the political party with a parliamentary majority

• Republic

• Jan 1 - New Year’s Day
• Easter Monday (changes)
• Mar 29 Anniversary of the Death of Barthélemy Boganda
• Aug 13 Independence Day
• Aug 15 Assumption
• Nov 1 All Saint’s Day
• Dec 1 National Day
• Dec 25 Christmas Day

• 13 August 1960 (from France )

• unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (109 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms
  

• Bangui; Bimbo; Berbérati; Carnot; Bambari

• La Renaissance (Click here for full anthem)

• 50 (2004 est.)(3 PAVED) (Compare to other countries)

• total: 23,810 km
  paved: 643 km
  unpaved: 23,167 km (1999 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• Bangui , Nola, Salo, Nzinga

Fixed lines
& mobile telephones
(per 1,000 people)
(From ITU)

• 4 m (2000)
• NA (2003)

• +236

• .cf

• 5,000 (2002)
• (Compare to other countries)

Press

• Centrafrique-Presse
• Le Citoyen
• Le Confident
• Le Démocrate
• L'Evenementiel
• L'Hirondelle

TV

• Television Centrafricaine (TVCA)

Radio

• Radio Centrafrique
• Radio Ndeke Luka
• Radio Notre Dame
• Radio Nostalgie

• 1.7 (2000)
• NA (2003)

• .40 (2000)
• NA (2003)

• 9,000 (2002)
• (Compare to other countries)

• 13,000 (2003)
• (Compare to other countries)

• UTC/GMT +1
• Find the local time: Time and Date

• cotton, coffee, tobacco, manioc (tapioca), yams, millet, corn, bananas; timber

• Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible authority is the Bank of the Central African States
• Currency converter

• Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)

• diamonds, timber, cotton, coffee, tobacco

• Belgium 41%, Italy 8.9%, Spain 8.5%, Indonesia 7.6%, France 6.3%, US 5.3% (2004)

• calendar year

• purchasing power parity parity - $4.248 billion (2004 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• 0.5% (2004 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals

• France 19.4%, US 16.3%, Cameroon 8.3%, Belgium 5.6% (2004)

• gold and diamond mining, logging, brewing, textiles, footwear, assembly of bicycles and motorcycles

• 3.6% (2001 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• NA (1993)

• 8% (23% for Bangui ) (2001 est.)
• (Compare to other countries)

• Bangui
• Chutes de Boali waterfall
• M'Baïki waterfall
• St Floris & Bamingui-Bangoran Parks
• Zinga

• 26,000 (2005)

• Only nationals of Israel and Switzerland do not need visas.

• Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (1988)

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• Centrafrique-Presse
• Le Citoyen
• Le Confident
• Le Démocrate
• L'Evenementiel
• L'Hirondelle