Gabon
Info
Capital
Libreville
Population
2,119,036 (July 2018 est.)
Climate
Tropical
Currency
605.3 XAF = 1 USD (Dec. 2017 est.)
Important Cities
Port Gentil, Lambarene, Franceville
Area
267,667 sq.km.
People
Nationality
Gabonese
Major Peoples
Religion
Roman Catholic 42.3%, Protestant 12.3%, other Christian 27.4%, Muslim 9.8%, animist 0.6%, other 0.5%, none/no answer 7.1%
Literacy
83.2%
Principal Language
Fang, Bateke, Myene, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi, Nzebi
Official Language
French
Politics
Head Of State
Ali Bongo Ondimba (since 16 October 2009)
Type of Government
Presidential Republic
Date of Independence
August 17, 1960
Major Exports
Timber, Petroleum, Manganese, Uranium
Precolonial History
Hunter-gatherers inhabited Gabon during the Stone Age, and Bantu peoples gradually migrated to the area from northern Africa. The Mpongwe people arrived in the estuary region in the 11th century. The Fang people, known for their wooden reliquary figures, settled in the equatorial forests by the 19th century, and comprise Gabon’s largest ethnic group today. Portuguese merchant ships navigated to the coast in 1472. The country’s name derives from the Portuguese word gabão, a type of hooded cloak resembling the shape of the Como River estuary. The Dutch, English, and French engaged in the slave trade with local chieftains until the 1840s. In 1839, the French signed a treaty with the king of the Mpongwe, establishing a protectorate over the coast. French explorers in the latter half of the 19th century, including Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, ventured into the dense forests that cover more than three-fourths of the country’s surface, seeking the source of the Congo River. In 1910, Gabon became part of French Equatorial Africa.
Postcolonial History
This colonial federation was dismantled in 1958, and Gabon proclaimed full independence in 1960 while maintaining close ties with France. Léon M’Ba of the Bloc Démocratique Gabonais, later re-named the Parti Démocratique Gabonais (PDG), was elected president of Gabon’s new single-party political system. He was overthrown in a bloodless military coup in 1964, but French troops intervened and restored him to power. His vice president, Omar Bongo, ascended to the presidency upon M’Ba’s death in 1967. Bongo was re-elected six times and remained in office until his death in 2009. Bongo’s political party maintained power mainly by suppressing opposition groups. The current president, his son Ali Bongo, was elected despite allegations of voting fraud and took office in 2009.
Recommended Sources:
David E. Gardinier and Douglas A. Yates, Historical Dictionary of Gabon (Lanhan, Toronto, and Plymouth, UK: 2006).
Official Portal of the Gabonese Republic (http://www.en.legabon.org).
Audio and Video
Audio
Gabon; Fang peoples
"Fang Bwiti ngombi [excerpt; Ngombi harp and vocal by Mvomo Asumu Andre]"
Gabon and Río Muni, Fang, 1959-1960
Collected by James Fernandez
Indiana University, Bloomington
Archives of Traditional Music
71-255-F