Jean-Bédel Bokassa, also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR) and as the emperor of its successor state, the Central African Empire (CAE), from the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état on 1 January 1966 until his overthrow in a subsequent coup in 1979.

The Central African Empire was established on 4 December 1976 when the then-President of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, declared himself Emperor of Central Africa. The empire would be dissolved less than three years later when French and Central African forces overthrew Bokassa and re-established the Central African Republic on 21 September 1979.