Independence Day in 2024

When is Independence Day in the Central African Republic?

Independence Day is a public holiday in the Central African Republic (CAR) on August 13th each year.

This is the National Day of the Central African Republic and marks independence from France on this day in 1960.

History of Independence Day in the Central African Republic.

CAR is a state in the heart of the African continent with a territory of about 622,400 square km and a population of 4.6 million people.

According to the UN, the republic is among the least developed countries in Africa in socio-economic terms, however, the country has rich deposits of uranium, oil, gold and diamonds.

This country's inland location meant that it didn't have the first wave of contact with Europeans as they rounded the coast of Africa looking for a passageway to India.

The isolation ended with the arrival of the slave trade with some local tribes becoming suppliers to the Europeans and Arab traders. The slave trade depopulated large parts of the region and shattered the sophisticated societies that had developed. To compound the chaos, at the end of the 19th century, the region couldn't escape the so-called 'Scramble for Africa' as France, Germany, and Belgium all vied for control of the land.

Already controlling large swathes of surrounding Africa, the French won out and in 1894, set up a dependency called Ubangi-Shari. In 1910, Ubangi-Shari became part of the Federation of French Equatorial Africa.

The history of Ubangi-Shari then runs along similar lines to the other French colonies with the French imposing and abusing harsh labour laws to exact the cost of maintaining their expensive overseas colonies

After the end of the second world war, Ubangi-Shari reached a nationalist milestone when Barthelemy Boganda, founder of the pro-independence Social Evolution Movement of Black Africa, became the first Central African to be elected to the French parliament.

In 1946, all residents of French Equatorial Africa became French citizens and became eligible to elect local legislatures.

With the advent of the fifth French Republic in 1958, the territory achieved self-government within French Equatorial Africa with Boganda as prime minister.

The French constitutional referendum of September 1958 dissolved the French Equatorial Africa, and on December 1st of the same year the Assembly declared the birth of the autonomous Central African Republic.

Boganda died in 1959, and just one later on August 13th 1960, Ubangi-Shari gained its independence becoming the Central African Republic, with David Dacko, nephew of Boganda, as its president.

The flag of the Central African Republic was adopted on December 1st 1958 and is a unique combination of the usual pan-African colours (red, yellow and green) combined with the French Tricolore (red, white and blue). This shows the colonial past wasn't seen as totally negative; indeed for many years, Boganda campaigned for the creation of a large African Federation under French protection - which is what the yellow star at the top-right is meant to signify.