Ubangui-Shari

Ubangi-Shari
Oubangui-Chari
French colony
1903–1958
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem La Marseillaise  •  La Renaissance (instrumental only)
Green: Ubangi-Shari (prior to 1916) Lighter green: Ubangi-Shari (1916 concession from Kamerun) Lime green: French Equatorial Africa Dark gray: Other French possessions Darkest gray: French Republic
Capital		Les Abiras (1903–1906) Fort de Possel (1906) Bangui
Languages		French (official) Sango
Political structure		Colony
History
•	Established	1903
•	Merged with Chad	1906
•	Merged into French Equatorial Africa	1910–1916
•	Separately administered	1916–1934
•	Merged into French Equatorial Africa	1934–1958
•	Autonomy	December 1, 1958
Currency		French Equatorial African franc<br>CFA franc
Succeeded by Central African Republic
Today part of		Central African Republic

Ubangi-Shari (1906−1958) (French: Oubangui-Chari) was a French colony in central Africa, a part of French Equatorial Africa.

It was named after the Ubangi and Chari rivers along which it was colonised. It was established on December 29, 1903, from the Upper Ubangi (Haut-Oubangui) and Upper Shari (Haut-Chari) territories of the French Congo; renamed the Central African Republic (CAR) on December 1, 1958; and received independence on August 13, 1960.

French activity in the area began in 1889 with the establishment of the outpost Bangi (now Bangui) at the head of navigation on the Ubangi.

The Upper Ubangi was established as part of the French Congo on December 9, 1891. Despite a France-Congo Free State convention establishing a border around the 4th parallel, the area was contested from 1892 to 1895 with the Congo Free State, which claimed the region as its territory of Ubangi-Bomu (Oubangui-Bomou). The Upper Ubangi was a separate colony from July 13, 1894, until December 10, 1899, at which time it was folded back into the French Congo. The Upper Shari region was established as part of the French Congo on September 5, 1900. That same year the Company of the Upper Ubangi Sultanates took over 140,000 km² of Upper Ubangi as a concession.

The territories were united as the separate colony of Ubangi-Shari on December 29, 1903, following the French defeat of Abbas II of Egypt, who had claimed the area. On February 11, 1906, this colony merged with the French settlements around Lake Chad and became the Ubangi-Shari territory of Ubangi-Shari-Chad (Oubangui-Chari-Tchad). In 1909, it received the administration over the sultanates of Zemio and Rafai from the Belgian Congo.