The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in central Africa that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south; Cameroon to the west; Chad in the north and Sudan to the east.

Although the majority of the country consists of Sudano-Guinean savannas, it also includes an Equatorial forest zone in the south and a Sahelo-Sudanese zone in the north. A third of the country lies in the basin of the Shari River, which flows north into Lake Chad, whilst the remaining two thirds lies in the basins of the Ubangi River, which flows south into the Congo River.

Formerly the French colony of Oubangui-Chari (Ubangi-Shari), the C.A.R. became a semi-autonomous territory of the French Community in 1958 and then an independent nation in 1960. The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world and among the ten poorest countries in Africa.