The Central African Republic (CAR), is a country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the east, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. Since most of the territory is located in the Ubangi and Shari river basins, the French called the colony it carved out in this region Ubangi-Shari, or Oubangui-Chari in French.

The northwest and the center of the country represent an agricultural pond important for the cultures of cotton and sugar cane. The forestry development contributes widely to the GDP, with important tropical wooden resources. The mining activity (gold and diamonds) constitutes the other important resource of the Central African Republic in terms of receipts of export: the official production - mainly home-made - of alluvionnaires diamonds of very good quality becomes established in approximately 500 000 carats a year.