Central African Empire
Central African Empire Empire centrafricain | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–1979 | |||||||||
| Motto: "Unité, Dignité, Travail" ("Unity, Dignity, Duty") | |||||||||
| Anthem: "La Renaissance" ("The Renaissance") | |||||||||
Location of the Central African Empire. | |||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Bangui | ||||||||
| Official language | French | ||||||||
National language | Sango | ||||||||
| Religion | Catholicism (official) Protestantism, Sunni Islam (minority) | ||||||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy (de jure) Unitary one-party absolute monarchy under a military dictatorship (de facto) | ||||||||
| Emperor | |||||||||
• 1976–1979 | Bokassa I | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1976–1978 | Ange-Félix Patassé | ||||||||
• 1978–1979 | Henri Maïdou | ||||||||
| Establishment | |||||||||
| 4 December 1976 | |||||||||
| 4 December 1977 | |||||||||
| 21 September 1979 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 622,984 km2 (240,535 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Currency | Central African CFA franc | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | CF | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Central African Republic | ||||||||
.svg){kind=link}
.svg){kind=link}
The Central African Empire (French: Empire centrafricain) was established on 4 December 1976 when the then-President of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, declared himself Emperor of Central Africa. The empire would fall less than three years later when French and Central African forces overthrew Bokassa and re-established the Central African Republic on 21 September 1979.