POPULATION 3,642,739
CHRISTIAN 50 percent
TRADITIONAL 25 percent
MUSLIM 15 percent
OTHER 10 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country located in the middle of the continent. It is a complex nation, with at least 10 distinct ethnic groups that follow three principal religions—Christianity, traditionalism, and Islam. These various groups, living at one of the continent's most important crossroads between black Africa in the west and south and the Arab world in the north and east, were loosely united by the French beginning in 1885, culminating in the establishment of the colony of Oubangui-Shari during the 1920s. Christianity was introduced beginning in the late nineteenth century. The colonial period was relatively short, with independence coming on 13 August 1960, and it has been difficult for the government to forge a true nation capable of integrating the country's ethnic groups as well as the thousands of immigrants from...