The CAR has an area of 622,995 sq km and Bangui is the capital of CAR. Central African Republic (CAR), landlocked republic in central Africa, bordered on the north by Chad, on the east by Sudan, on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, and on the west by Cameroon. A former French colony, which became independent on August 31, 1960, the CAR was known as the Central African Empire from 1976 to 1979 under the autocratic rule of the self-styled emperor Jean Bédel Bokassa. The CAR has an area of 622,995 sq km. Bangui is the capital.