Editing Central African Republic (section)

===16th–19th century===
[[File:Sultan and his wives at Bangassou, 1906.png|thumb|The Sultan of [[Bangassou]] and his wives, 1906]]
In the 16th and 17th centuries, [[History of slavery|slave trade]]rs began to raid the region as part of the expansion of the Saharan and Nile River slave routes. Their captives were enslaved and shipped to the Mediterranean coast, Europe, Arabia, the Western Hemisphere, or to the slave ports and factories along the West and North Africa or South along the Ubangui and Congo rivers.<ref>{{Cite book|author=<!-- not stated -->|title=Central African Republic Foreign Policy and Government Guide (World Strategic and Business Information Library)|date=7 February 2007|publisher=International Business Publications|isbn=978-1433006210|page=47|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfIVA5KMEb8C&pg=PA47|access-date=25 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905090927/https://books.google.com/books?id=XfIVA5KMEb8C&pg=PA47|archive-date=5 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="africanhistory.about.com">Alistair Boddy-Evans. [http://africanhistory.about.com/od/car/l/bl-CAR-Timeline-1.htm Central Africa Republic Timeline – Part 1: From Prehistory to Independence (13 August 1960), A Chronology of Key Events in Central Africa Republic]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423060132/http://africanhistory.about.com/od/car/l/bl-CAR-Timeline-1.htm |date=23 April 2013 }}. About.com</ref> During the 18th century Bandia-Nzakara [[Azande]] peoples established the [[Bangassou]] Kingdom along the [[Ubangi River]].<ref name="africanhistory.about.com"/> In the mid 19th century, the [[Bangi language|Bobangi people]] became major slave traders and sold their captives to the Americas using the Ubangi river to reach the coast.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102152/Central-African-Republic/214025/The-arts-and-cultural-institutions Central African Republic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413172207/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102152/Central-African-Republic/214025/The-arts-and-cultural-institutions |date=13 April 2013 }}". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> In 1875, the [[Sudan]]ese sultan [[Rabih az-Zubayr]] governed Upper-Oubangui, which included present-day Central African Republic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabih-az-Zubayr|title=Rābiḥ az-Zubayr {{!}} African military leader|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=27 February 2020|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727191106/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rabih-az-Zubayr|url-status=live}}</ref>