1960 — CAR Independence

On August 13, 1960, the Central African Republic declared independence from France, and David Dacko became its first president. The landlocked heart of the continent — rich in diamonds, gold, and uranium — began its sovereign life in the shadow of Barthélemy Boganda, the independence hero killed in a mysterious plane crash the year before.

Dacko lasted barely five years before his cousin Jean-Bédel Bokassa seized power, later crowning himself Emperor in a diamond-studded coronation. The contrast was stark: a republic born amid hope, soon overtaken by personal rule, its riches failing to bring the stability its people had awaited.