A Super Quick History of the Central African Republic

Hello everyone, and welcome to... music This is Africa, and the Republic in Africa's center is called the Central African Republic. Nicely specific... Now, let's get a quick rundown, shall we? First inhabited several millennia ago by Akha Pigmies, they presumably did not build the megaliths found in the country. Over the centuries other peoples wandered into the land, settling along the banks of the Ubungi river. Now, as the tendrils of the Arab slave trade dug deeper into Africa in the 1600s, tribes in Central Africa were raided and people captured and carted off and sold across the Muslim world in places like Turkey or Egypt. This sort of thing went on for centuries, with the Bobangi people making a lot of money selling their fellow Africans into servitude. The latter 19th century saw the French gain control of the country. Demand for rubber and ivory brought its own problems, and there were a number of uprisings that had to be quashed. The Catholic Church saw to it that schools and medical clinics were built, though the government taskmasters were not so charitable with their labourers. Barthélemy Boganda, a Catholic priest, opposed French colonialism and diplomatically pushed for independence. He would have become the first president, but died in a suspicious plane crash in 1959, a year before his nation's independence. This guy became president instead, and the country was bankrupt in no time. He was overthrown by Jean-Bidel Bocassin, a deluded military dictator who proclaimed himself an emperor while his nation sank further into debt. Another dictator followed, and mounting divisions led to war, and from 2012, civil war, where unimaginable horrors have been perpetrated. Things are not good right now in the Central African Republic. Though brimming with diamonds, it is one of the poorest of all countries, with the world's second lowest human development index. Violence has destroyed this nation, and we can only hope it stops soon. But even if it did, it will be a long time before this heavily bandaged land can heal. So that's that thus far. Let's hope this goes no further, and the future is happier. But as for me, it's bye for now. Bye bye!