What is "abiras"

Abiras or les Abiras is a former settlement which was located on the northern bank of the Ubangi River at its source, the confluence of the Mbomou and Welle rivers. It was located opposite from the Congolese city of Yakoma in the area of the present-day Central African Republic.

It was not until 1882 or ’83 that the German explorer Wilhelm Junker established that the Welle flowed into the Mbomou; the Belgian agent Alphonse Vangele established the Yakoma post in 1890. The Frenchman Gaston Gaillard then received a grant from the Yakoma leader Inkesse on the north bank and established Abiras on September 7, 1891. During the initial French settlement of central Africa, Abiras served as the capital of the French Congo's territory of Upper Ubangi () and then as the first capital of the colony of Ubangi-Shari (). It was replaced in 1906 first by Fort de Possel and then by Bangi, the present-day Bangui.