The Company of the Upper Ubangi Sultanates (french: Compagnie des Sultanats du Haut-Oubangui) was a

concessionary company A concession or concession agreement is a grant of rights, land or property by a government, local authority, corporation, individual or other legal entity. Public services such as water supply may be operated as a concession. In the case of a p ...

in the colony of

Ubangi-Shari Ubangi-Shari (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 29 December 1903, from the U ...

(now the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

) between 1899 and 1927. It was founded by ten European shareholders and received from the French government a 140,000 km² territory to administer and exploit.Richard Bradshaw and Juan Fandos-Rius, ''Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic'' (Scarecrow Press, 2016), p. 176. Ernest Bouchard, one of the original shareholders, took possession of the territory from the colonial official,

Henri Bobichon Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mon ...

, on 22 August 1900 at

Bangassou Bangassou is a city in the south eastern Central African Republic, lying on the north bank of the Mbomou River. It has a population of 24,447 (2003 census) and is the capital of the Mbomou prefecture. It is known for its wildlife, market, and near ...

. The company engaged in the

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

and

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

trades, exacting labour from the natives. Rubber production took off immediately and grew rapidly. In 1901 it was 28,306

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s, by 1905 it had grown almost tenfold and in 1914 it was 426,239 tons. Ivory production was at 34,785 tons in 1901, but it remained relatively steady over the same interval. In 1927, the company was dissolved. It was replaced by the New Company of the Upper Ubangi Sultanates (''Société nouvelle des Sultanats du Haut-Oubangui''), which had established a trading office at

Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...

by 1935. Less profitable than its predecessor, its agent on the ground left Bangui in 1940 and its property came under the control of the Society of Colonial Enterprises (''Société d'entreprises coloniales'') for the duration of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1939–45). In 1947, the failed ''Société nouvelle'' was dissolved.

References

Ubangi-Shari Companies established in 1899 Companies disestablished in 1927 1899 establishments in the French colonial empire 1927 disestablishments in the French colonial empire {{Company-stub