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Bizarre: Some of the Modern Era’s Oddest Rulers

Khalid Elhassan January 21, 2025 14 min

Bizarre - The coronation of Emperor Bokassa I — The coronation of Emperor Bokassa I. Wikimedia

12. Emperor of the Central African Empire

Jean Bedel Bokassa. Google Arts & Culture

Jean-Bedel Bokassa, self-proclaimed Bokassa the First (1921 – 1996), was the military dictator of the Central African Republic from 1966 to 1979. He declared the small country an empire, and himself Bokassa I, Emperor of the Central African Empire. His rule was marked by terror, corruption, and bizarre behavior. Bokassa was a captain in the French colonial forces when Central Africa gained its independence from France. The country’s new president, a distant cousin, invited him to head its armed forces. Bokassa accepted, and a few years later, staged a coup, seized power, and declared himself president. A worshipper of Napoleon Bonaparte, he emulated his idol’s example and crowned himself emperor.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.