The Central African Republic (CAR; Sango: Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka; French: République centrafricaine pronounced: [ʁepyblik sɑ̃tʁafʁikɛn], or Centrafrique [sɑ̃tʀafʁik]) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad in the north, Sudan in the northeast, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi) and had an estimated population of about 4.4 million as of 2008.
Most of the CAR consists of Sudano-Guinean savannas, but the country also includes a Sahelo-Sudanian zone in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south. Two-thirds of the country is within the Ubangi River basin (which flows into the Congo), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari, which flows into Lake Chad.
What is today Central African Republic has been inhabited for millennia but the country's current borders were established by France which ruled the country as a colony starting in the late 19th century. After independence from France in 1960 Central African Republic was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders and by the 1990s calls for democracy led to the first multi-party democratic elections in 1993. Ange-Félix Patassé became president but was later removed by General François Bozizé in the 2003 Coup. The Central African Republic Bush War began in 2004 and despite a peace treaty in 2007 and another in 2011 fighting broke out in December, 2012 and led to ethnic cleansing and massive population displacement in 2013 and 2014.
Despite its significant mineral deposits and other resources, such as uranium reserves, crude oil, gold, diamonds, lumber, and hydropower, as well as significant quantities of arable land, Central African Republic is among the ten poorest countries in the world.