Trust me, if you get lost here, the last thing you'll want is a compass.
("Geography Now" opening jingle)
It's time to learn geography - NOW!
Hey guys, I'm your host, Barby.
In this episode, we're just gonna refer to this country as "the Republic". Why? Because Bosnia and Herzegovina taught us the value of abbreviations.
That being said:
(slot machine noises)
The flag of the republic is made of 4 multi-colored bars, blue, white, green, yellow,
and splitting the entire flag in the middle is a red bar.
In the upper hoist side, you'll find a yellow star.
The flag was intended to blend the French tricolors with the Pan-Africanist movement colors,
the red applying for both.
According to the official description, the blue represents the sky and freedom.
The white represents peace and dignity.
The green for hope and faith.
And the yellow for tolerance.
And guess what the red symbolizes?
(weird singer voice) The blood of those who fought for the country!
The star represents the guiding steps toward freedom and empancipation.
Kind in mind that there was a very messed up period of time in this country when they used to have this flag,
most Central Africans prefer not to talk about it.
We will!
But not yet. First we have to cover the:
In terms of location, the republic is kinda like a double-edged sword.
They are one of the most blessed and yet cursed places on the planet.
First of all, just as the name suggests, the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC is located in central Africa.
Bordered by 6 other countries - remember, Sudan split into 2 Sudans a few years ago.
And about two thirds of the country resides on the Oubangui river basin.
Keep in mind, don't let the name fool you - the Central African Republic is actually not the actual center of Africa,
that title belongs to an area close to the town of Dongou in the Republic of Congo.
Republic: Ah! So close!
The country is split up into 16 prefectures and 1 autonomous commune, which is also the capital city Bangui.
2 of these prefectures, Nana-Grébizi and Sangha-Mbaéré, have unique designations as economic prefectures,
which basically means the 2 areas adminsitrate and faciliate economic activities for the country.
By the way, it's kinda hard to explain, but a prefecture is kind of like half-way between a province and a parish.
It has something to do with a council that meets up and prefect presides over them, whatever.
Each prefecture is actually named after a river that passes through them,
like the Ouaka, the Kémo, the Nana-Mambéré -
which also where you can find the strange neolithic Bouar megalith structures.
Sometimes referred to as the "African Stongehenge."
All these rivers either end up in the Congo river, or Lake Chad.
Everything from the Obo river to the Bimbo.
(chuckles) Bimbo.
Fun little side note:
the shape of the Central African Republic somewhat creepishly resembles Burkina Faso.
They both have northwest humps and western snouts that jut out in a similar fashion.
They're like long-lost twins seperated at birth!
...or decolonization.
The capital and largest city in the country, Bangui, is located all the way in the south on the Ouabangui river, right on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Most of the population either lives on the west, or in the areas around Bangui, with the northern regions more sparsely populated.
Historically, getting around in the republic has always been a little difficult.
Even the French were a little reluctant by going inland when they colonized it.
There are only about 17 secetary urban centers with more than 20 to 30,000 inhabitants that are mostly concentrated in the west.
Otherwise, the rest of the population prefers to live in sparsely-scattered villages, with only a couple hundred people on agricultural plots.
Less than 8% of the country's roads are paved and many remote areas have little or no access to adjacent towns.
Rivers provide locals with boat transportation, however, complete isolation is not uncommon.
This is partially because of history, but also partially because of how the landscape is muilt.
Now let's talk about that!
(earthquake rumbling)
(bird caws)
To put this short, the republic's land is one of the most untapped resource havens on the planet.
Because of the sparse population and limited transport access and centralized poltical grasp,
the republic's land, for the most part, is heavily forested, underdeveloped, and untouched.
This is kind of both a good and a bad thing.
(coughing) Impossible hide out for Joseph Koney's army! (coughs)
What?
I got bronchitis!
No, I don't.
First of all, the country is composed of mainly flat savanas in the north, equatorial forests with rolling hills in the center,
and dense jungles in the south.
One thing the republic has an abundance of is rivers.
The country has over 30 main rivers that feed into the forest and grasslands.
One of the most beautiful sites being the Les Chutes de Boali, located close to Bangui.
Of course, with all that water, the country also flourishes in plants.
About 3,600 species have been documented, but it's speculated that that could be around 5,000 different species in the country alone, many indemic to the area.
National forests also dominate the country all over.
Including the Dzanga-Sangha national park right at the bottom tip of the country
that harbors some of the densest concentrations of rare wildlife, like the beautifully-striped Bongo Antelope.
The republic also has the highest concentrations of lowland gorillas and forest elephants than any other country in Africa.
Now, believe it or not, the republic is actually also a hotspot for astronomers and stargazers.
Now, because of the vast domian with few metropolitan centers, the Central African Republic is the least light-polluted country in the world.
It's not difficult to observe the Milkyway Galaxy with the naked eye on clear, moonless nights.
Agriculture in itself employs about 70% of the entire population.
Crops like yam, casabas, peanuts, and sorgum are commonly grown and harvested.
By the way, yuppies, sorgum is gluten-free and it makes some pretty awesome dishes.
Check it out at your local overpriced hippie grocery store!
Now, here's the thing. If you come to the republic and bring a compass,
it might act very strange and go all haywire.
That's because the republic sits right in the middle of a strange geological phenomena that baffles scientists to this day.
I'm talking about the Bangui magnetic anomaly.
Magnetic anomalies are areas in the world that have strange variations in the Earth's magnetic field for some reason.
The republic sits right in the middle of the largest one in Africa.
Some of these anomalies are easier to explain than others.
For example, the largest anomaly in the world in Kursk, Russia, has an enormous deposit of iron ores on the surface,
which understandably would play a major in deviating magnetic fields.
Geophysicists are still blaffed and don't quite know exactly why this area acts this way.
Some concede that the reason might be of profusion of igninous rock under the crust,
and others say that it might have been a meteorite impact that happened long ago.
If it was a meteorite, that might explain a few things.
Had it happened, it possibly would have contributed to the compression and distribution of various minerals and ores in the ground.
About half the republic's export revenue is concentrated around diamonds and, to a lesser extent, precious metal commodities.
Diamonds are everywhere!
I guess you could say the republic really does "shine bright like a diamond!"
No, seriously Rihanna. Why you gotta do me like that, girl?
I thought we was cool. You know what I'm saying.
The sad thing is, the mining sector is highly underdeveloped and not really exploited much, despite the imense potential.
This has partially to do with the fact that the country has had a very abrasive history when it came to running itself.
Now let's discuss more about that in:
(Conch shell)
Okay, so the republic hasn't really had a good track record when it came to infrasructure maintenance,
however, you still find some fascinating sociological aspects about this country.
First of all, just to clear things up,
a person from the Central African Republic is referred to as a "Central African."
Not "Central African Republicans."
Got it? Cool.
The country has about 4.7 million residents, roughly a quadruple of the size that it was at independence.
Now in terms of ethnic groups, the country has about 80 different tribes that have their own different languages and dialects.
However, in general, they all kind of branch off of 3 parent groups.
The largest groups are the Gbaya/Mandjia, the Banda, and the M'Baka people groups that together make up more the 90% of the population.
These groups are further divided into sub-tribal groups and ethnolinguistic peoples.
The rest are other African tribal groups unaffiliated and a small communty of whites, mostly French or Belgian in descent.
Now, here's the cool thing.
Yes, French is an official language, however more people in the republic actually speak Sangho, the other official language.
Sangho is interesting because unlike other African countries that created creoles based off of European languages,
Sangho is actually one of the only few African-language-based African creoles in the continent.
Based on the local Ngbandi language, Sango was used widely before and during colonization to help inner-tribal communications of the people in the area, and to this day,
most Central Africans speak it.
Okay, now here is where things are gonna get a little morbid.
Viewer: Boo! We only wanna hear nice, happy, fluffy things!
Then you do not belong on this planet.
First of all, yes, the Central African Republic is classified as one of the poorest nations in the world, consistently ranking in the bottom 10 year after year.
The GDP per capita is around $350 a year, however, this figure is most likely inaccurate, because only reported sales are registered.
The republic's economy also thrives on a completely hidden unregistered transaction economy, things like bush meat,
traditional medicines, ivory, and locally-produced crops are typically ignored.
So they could have a higher GDP, but it's just not on the books.
The reason why is partially because of really bad leadership.
The country has had a ton of Coup D'Etats since independence, some of the most in all of Africa.
But not the world!
That title belongs to a different country that we're gonna do soon!
Now here's the thing. The Central African Republic is kind of like a battle royale.
Everybody wants power and the moment they have it, they're in even more danger than before, when they didn't have it.
Things got really messed up in the late 60's and 70's when Bokassa took over.
Essentially, he overthrew his own cousin and proclaimed himself as emperor of Central Africa.
He ruled with a beligerent agenda, spending nearly a third of the national budget on his coronation alone.
The crown itself costed $5,000,000.
He supervised judicial beating, executions, and massacres, including school children that refused to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives.
Yeah, he was CRAZY!
Eventually, he was deposed with the help of French paratroopers, and the country went back to being a republic.
Then things got crazy again, and then there was a civil war.
The whole ordeal kinda left the whole country in a very horrible mess that they're still kind of recovering from today.
It's kind of like when that kid walks in the cafeteria and trips and spills their entire tray all over everything.
Everyone around stares at them and immediately decides how they're gonna judge them in a matter of seconds.
That's kinda how it is with the republic.
Now let's talk more about this high school drama.
Now, the republic may still be recovering,
but bilateral relations are far from nonexistent.
When it comes to Europe, their biggest import partners are Dutch, and their biggest export partners are the Belgians.
Belgians love those diamonds and have invested a ton of money in resource extraction for their country.
France is still close to the republic, however they kind of ignore them in favor of other Francophone nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite the linguistic and economical ties,
the republic kind feels a little left out, since places like the Ivory Coast and Senegal get more attention.
Suprisingly, South Korea has really stepped up and is one of the oldest friends of the republic, establishing ties just 3 years after independence.
To this day, they make the largest Asian import partner.
In terms of their best friends, however, they would probably say Cameroon.
(sing-songy) Everybody loves Cameroon!
Since most of the population lives in the west, closer to the border of Cameroon, most people culturally identify with Cameroonians and get along.
Not only that, but Cameroon provides the republic with access to the sea, and most imports and exports travel through the port of Douala.
In conclusion, this country shows us that sitting on a literal diamond mine won't really do much unless you can get your legislative act together.
Central African Republic, we hope you can do that.
Stay tuned. Chad is coming up next!
Hey geograpeeps, say hi to this newcomer Jared from New Zealand,
he helped me out with the animations. Here he is.
Hey guys.
I'm Jared from New Zealand.
I've been helping out with the animation and stuff for the last few episodes.
Don't tell Paul this, but -
actually, I just wanted to help so I could see the videos earlier.
Nah, I'm only kidding.
I've really been enjoying helping to make these videos and I hope you guys have enjoyed what I've been doing.