[2] The territories were united as the separate colony of Ubangi-Shari on 29 December 1903,[1] following the French defeat of Abbas II of Egypt, who had claimed the area.

[citation needed] On 11 February 1906, this colony merged with the French settlements around Lake Chad and became the Ubangi-Shari territory of Ubangi-Shari-Chad (Oubangui-Chari-Tchad).

During World War II, it remained loyal to Vichy France from 16 June to 29 August 1940, before being taken by the Free French.

French author and Nobel laureate André Gide travelled to Ubangi-Shari and was told by inhabitants about atrocities including mutilations, dismemberments, executions, the burning of children, and villagers being forcibly bound to large beams and made to walk until dropping from exhaustion and thirst.

[4] The book "Travels to Congo" by Gide, published in 1927 describes the horrors of the concession companies in French Equatorial Africa.