Portal:Central African Republic
The Central African Republic Portal
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country located 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, French is its official language, with Sango, a Ngbandi-based creole language, as the national and co-official language. Its capital and largest city is Bangui, which is on the southern border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic mainly consists of Sudano-Guinean savanna, 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 basin of the Ubangi River (which flows into the Congo River), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari River, which flows into Lake Chad. What is today the Central African Republic has been inhabited since at least 8000 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 Jean-Bedel Bokassa who changed the country's name to the Central African Empire and ruled as a monarch from 1976 to 1979. 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, characterized by widespread and increasing abuses by various participating armed groups. Despite the country's 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 (HDI), 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 (IHDI), ranking 164th out of 165 countries. The Central African Republic is also estimated to be the unhealthiest country, as well as the worst country to be in 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 - Catherine Samba-Panza (née Souga; born 26 June 1954) is a Central African politician who served as Transitional President of the Central African Republic from 2014 to 2016. She was the first woman to serve as head of state in the Central African Republic. Prior to her tenure as acting president, she was the Mayor of Bangui from 2013 to 2014. Samba-Panza began her career operating an insurance brokerage and working as a women's rights advocate. She was chosen in 2003 to serve as the vice president of a national reconciliation conference, and she was then chosen as president of the subsequent committee to implement the conference's recommendations. She was appointed mayor of Bangui in 2013 after the city was devastated by the Central African Republic Civil War. She was then appointed to serve as transitional president of the Central African Republic in 2014. She was tasked with restoring stability to the nation by disarming militant groups, and she emphasized the nation's economic recovery through employment and foreign aid. Her term ended in 2016. She was a presidential candidate in the 2020–21 election, but she was unsuccessful. (Full article...) General images -The following are images from various Central African Republic-related articles on Wikipedia.
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| 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 |
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