AAfrican Knowledge Atlas

Central African Republic

Capital: Bangui · Central Africa

Savanna-forest crossroads of the Gbaya, Banda and Zande worlds, where the Aka people's polyphonic song is a UNESCO masterpiece.

Ethnic communities

More communities of Central African Republic

  • Mandjia — Plateau farmers between Gbaya and Banda
  • Sara — Southern kin of Chad's great farming people
  • Nzakara — Bandia-dynasty neighbors of Zande courts
  • Yakoma & Sango — River traders whose tongue became national
  • Mboum — Western plateau's old chiefly lineages
  • Banziri & Buraka — Ubangi river fisher communities
  • Ngbaka — Forest-edge harp-music culture
  • Kare & Runga — Northern Muslim-belt communities
  • Goula & Kaba — North-central farming peoples
  • Dagba & Langbasi — Smaller Ubangian farming communities

Languages

Major languages: Sango, French, Gbaya, Banda

Language families: Niger-Congo (Ubangian); Ngbandi-based creole (Sango)

Historical kingdoms & states

  • • Zande (Bandia) kingdoms
  • • Dar al-Kuti sultanate

Heritage sites

  • • Manovo-Gounda St Floris
  • • Sangha Trinational forest

Cultural highlights

Aka polyphonic singingNgbaka harp musicBanda-Linda horn orchestras

Deep-dive community profiles

Azande

The 'great eaters of the forest edge' — a conquering Avongara-led nation spanning three borders, whose oracle-governed courts, throwing knives and Ture trickster cycles made them the classic study of an African philosophy of causation.

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Baka

Forest hunter-gatherers of the western Congo basin — whose yelli and water-drumming polyphonies are among the world's most admired music, whose Jengi forest spirit governs the hunt, and whose land rights are among Africa's most contested.

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Gbaya

The savanna-forest farmers of the CAR's west — whose Karnu prophet led the great Kongo-Wara rebellion against French rule, and whose hunting societies, initiation dances and sanza thumb-pianos hold the country's largest people together.

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