The African nation of Gabon has had human inhabitants for perhaps 400,000 years. Bantu peoples settled here from the 11th century. The coastline first became known to Europeans through Portuguese and Dutch sailors. Colonised by the French in the 19th century, Gabon became independent in 1960.

Prehistory, protohistory

-400 000 years: shaped stones found near Otoumbi in the middle of the country, attest to inhabitation beginning in this period. -12 000 years: axes and arrow heads dating to this period are found in Moyen-Ogooué province and in the southern part of the country. -8 000 years: rock drawings dating to this period found near Cap Lopez. -5 000: The first pygmies people the territory of the current Gabon. Iron Age: iron metallurgy in Gabon, attested to by traces found in several sites. 11th century:

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

migrations, coming from the north. Little by little the Bantu begin to outnumber the pygmies.

Before colonization

1472: Portuguese sailors are the first Europeans to enter the Komo estuary. 1480: the Portuguese navigator

Fernan Vaz Fernan Vaz Lagoon is a large lagoon on the Atlantic coast of Gabon. It is named for Fernão Vaz, the first European to reach it, and is known its wildlife and for the church at Mission Saint Anne, built in 1889 by Gustav Eiffel. The main settleme ...

explores the lagoon which today is named for him in the south of the Ogooué delta. 1600: the Dutch build a small fort on the island of

Corisco Corisco, Mandj, or Mandyi, is a small island of Equatorial Guinea, located southwest of the Río Muni estuary that defines the border with Gabon. Corisco, whose name derives from the Portuguese word for lightning, has an area of , and its highe ...

, destroyed shortly thereafter by the Mpongwè. 1609: shipwreck of the ''Mauritius'', a ship of the Dutch East India Company, off

Cape Lopez Cape Lopez () is a headland on the coast of Gabon, west central Africa. The westernmost point of Gabon, it separates the Gulf of Guinea from the South Atlantic Ocean. Cape Lopez is the northernmost point of a low, wooded island between two mouths ...

. 1698: Dutch sailors destroy several Mpongwé villages in the Gabon estuary. 1722: the pirate captain Bartholomew Roberts is killed by the English navy off Cape Lopez.

Colonial period

1839: the Mpongwe chief Denis Rapontchombo authorizes the French to settle on the left bank of the Komo estuary. 1841: the "king" Louis Dowe in turn authorises the French to settle the right bank of the estuary. 1843: construction of Fort-d'Aumale, first permanent French settlement on the Komo estuary. 1849: Louis-Édouard Bouët-Willaumetz founds

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inh ...

and settles slaves freed from a slave transport there. 1862: treaty establishing French sovereignty over Cap Lopez. 1873: Alfred Marche and the marquis

Victor de Compiègne Louis-Alphonse-Henri-Victor du Pont, marquis de Compiègne (22 July 1846 – 28 February 1877), known as Victor de Compiègne, was a 19th-century French explorer. With his friend Antoine-Alfred Marche he explored the course of the Ogooué River in ...

try to follow the course of the Ogooué upstream. 1875–1878: first expedition of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in the Ogooué basin. 1886: Gabon becomes a French colony. 1889: the Woermann company exports the first

okoumé ''Aucoumea klaineana'' (angouma, gaboon, or okoumé) is a tree in the family Burseraceae, native to equatorial west Africa in Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and Río Muni. It is a large hardwood tree growing to tall, rarely larger, with a ...

to Hamburg. 1896: Awandji took the Lastourville outpost and kill the French administrator. 1898: The concessionary companies are allocated vast territories which they put in regulated sections. 1899: André Raponda-Walker is the first Gabonese ordained as a priest. 1899: concession system spreads across all of Gabon. Almost the entire country allocated to French logging companies 1900: determination of the border between Gabon and Spanish Guinea. 1900: death in captivity, in Gabon, of

Samory Touré Samory Toure ( – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Muslim cleric, a military strategist, and the founder and leader of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic empire that was in present-day ...

. 1903–1908:

Mitsogo The Mitsogo or Tsogo are an ethno-cultural group from the highlands of Gabon. They reside mainly in Ngounié Province to the north and east of Mouila. Numbering around 13,000, they speak the Tsogo language. In the late 19th and early 20th century t ...

revolt against French implantation in Ngounié. 1908: pacification of Haut-Ivindo by capitain Fabiani. who founds the

Makokou Makokou is the regional capital of the Ogooué-Ivindo province in Gabon. Its coordinates are . Its altitude is 308 m. Its population in 2004 is around 16,600. The city lies on the Ivindo River and the N4 road. It grew around iron ore mini ...

outpost. 1911: France cedes

Woleu-Ntem Woleu-Ntem is the northernmost of Gabon's nine provinces. It covers an area of 38,465 km and named after Woleu and Ntem rivers that cross it. The provincial capital is Oyem, which had a total of 60,685 inhabitants in 2013. As Woleu-Ntem i ...

to Germany, which attaches it to Cameroon. 1911: surrender of the Bakaya chief, Maruvulu, after several years of guerilla warfare. 1913: Albert Schweitzer founds a hospital in Lambaréné. 1913: the Mitsogo chief Mbombé dies in prison at

Mouila Mouila is the capital of the Ngounié region of Gabon. It lies on the Ngounié River and the N1 road and has a population of about 20,000 people. Its main sight is Lac Bleu, a lake known for its bright blue water. Mouila is very spread out ...

. 1914–1915: fighting in

between Senegalese sharpshooters and German troops from the Cameroon. Collapse of okoumé market, which had primarily been exported to Germany. Gabonese forced to harvest rubber or palm kernels to pay head tax, men also forcibly recruited to serve as porters in military campaigns. 1922: the administrator Montespan signs a peace treaty with Chief Wongo, halting the guerilla actions of the Awandji. 1925: Haut-Ogooué is attached to

Moyen-Congo Moyen-Congo may refer to: * A former French colony in Africa, known as : ** French Congo (''Congo français'', 1882-1903) ** ''Moyen-Congo'' or ''Middle Congo'' (1903-1960), as part of French Equatorial Africa between 1910 and 1958 ** The independen ...

. 1929: the surrender of chief Wongo ends the uprising of the Awandji of l' Ogooué-Lolo. 1933: Léon Mba is exiled in

Oubangui-Chari Ubangi-Shari (french: Oubangui-Chari) was a French colony in central Africa, a part of French Equatorial Africa. It was named after the Ubangi and Chari rivers along which it was colonised. It was established on 29 December 1903, from the ...

. 1940: the colony of Gabon rallies to the Free French (

France libre Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

) after several battles between Vichyste and Gaullistes. 1946:

Jean-Hilaire Aubame Jean-Hilaire Aubame (10 November 1912 – 16 August 1989) was a Gabonese politician active during both the colonial and independence periods. The French journalist Pierre Péan said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a cust ...

, founder of the Union Démocratique et Sociale du Gabon, is the first Gabonese elected to the French National Assembly. 1946: Haut-Ogooué is definitively attached to Gabon. 1946: Abolition of forced labor 1956: Léon Mba is elected mayor of

. 1956: first oil wells, at Ozouri, by the la Société des Pétroles d'Afrique Équatoriale, the future Elf-Gabon. 1958: Gabon becomes an autonomous state within the framework of the Communauté française.

Since independence

1960: the Republic of Gabon becomes an independent state. 1961: Léon Mba is elected president of the Republic. 1962: COMILOG (Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué) begins mining manganese. 1964: attempted military coup d'état against Léon Mba fails due to French military intervention. 1967: death of Léon Mba. Albert-Bernard Bongo succeeds him as president of the Republic. 1968: president Bongo installs a single-party régime. 1970: the first buildings open at the university of Libreville. 1971: assassination in Libreville of opposition politician by two mercenaries. 1973: Albert-Bernard Bongo converts to Islam and becomes

Omar Bongo El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

. 1975: Gabon becomes a member of

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headquart ...

. 1976: construction of the omnisport stadium in

, which hosts the first

Central African Games The Central African Games was an international multi-sport event for countries within Central Africa. It was held on three occasions: in 1976 in Libreville, Gabon, in 1981 in Luanda, Angola, and finally in 1987 in Brazzaville, People's Republic of t ...

. 1977: assassination of the Gabonese poet Ndouna Depenaud. 1977:

initiates a series of infrastructure projects in

. 1977: creation of the state-owned compagny

Air Gabon Air Gabon was the national, state-owned airline of Gabon, operating out of Libreville International Airport to a variety of destinations across western and southern Africa, as well as to Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Founded in 1951 ...

. 1977: summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Libreville. 1978: the Gabonese government expels thousands of nationals of Benin. 1981: founding of MORENA (MOuvement de REdressement NAtional), unsanctioned opposition party. 1981: Gabon expels several thousand nationals of Cameroon. 1981: Omar Bongo is received by

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

in Washington. 1982: official visit of pope Pope John Paul II to Gabon. 1983: official visit of

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

, president of the French republic. 1983: creation in Libreville of the CICIBA (Centre International des CIvilisations BAntoues, International Center of Bantu Civilizations). 1985: capital execution of captain Alexandre Mandja Ngokouta in Libreville. 1986: inauguration of the Libreville-Franceville railway line (le

Transgabonais The Trans-Gabon Railway (french: Transgabonais) is the only railway in Gabon. It runs east from Owendo port station in Libreville to Franceville via numerous stations, the main ones being Ndjolé, Lopé, Booué, Lastoursville and Moanda. ...

). 1990: after a period of political unrest, re-establishment of multipartisme. 1990: French military intervention at Port-Gentil and at Libreville to evacuate foreign nationals (''opération Requin''). 1993: presidential election;

wins beating father

Paul Mba Abessole Paul Mba Abessole (born October 9, 1939
, ''Afrique Express'', number 244, February 6, 2002 . ...

. 1994: devaluation of the CFA franc triggers a price increase for imported goods and a drop in the buying power of the Gabonese. Also logging increases and concessions greatly expanded. 1994: Gabon leaves

. 1995: Gabonese police expel thousands of undocumented foreigners ("sans-papiers"). 1996: le père

Paul Mba Abessole Paul Mba Abessole (born October 9, 1939
, ''Afrique Express'', number 244, February 6, 2002 . ...

est élu maire de

. 1996: an epidemic of

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

kills several dozen people in Ogooué-Ivindo (Mayibout village). 1997:

supports the return to power of Denis Sassou-Nguesso in

Congo-Brazzaville The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

. 1998: re-election of

to the presidency. 2001:

, Denis Sassou-Nguesso et Idriss Déby lose the lawsuit they initiated in French courts against the writer

François-Xavier Verschave François-Xavier Verschave (28 October 1945, in Lille – 29 June 2005, in Villeurbanne) was primarily known as one of the founders of the French NGO '' Survie'' ("Survival"), over which he presided since 1995, and as coiner of the term ''Françafr ...

for "offense to a foreign head of state". 2002:

Paul Mba Abessole Paul Mba Abessole (born October 9, 1939
, ''Afrique Express'', number 244, February 6, 2002 . ...

becomes minister of human rights of president Bongo. 2005: unsurprising reelection of

Omar Bongo Ondimba El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

to the presidency. 2006: liquidation of the state compagny

, which had been struggling for years with financial difficulties. 2007: creation of the private company

Gabon Airlines Gabon Airlines is the name of two incarnations of Gabonese airline, headquartered in Libreville. The first incarnation of Gabon Airlines which was operated from 2007 to 2012, concentrating on African and European flight services out of Libreville ...

. 2009: death of

7 June. 2009: election of Ali Bongo Ondimba, minister of defense et son of Omar Bongo Ondimba (30 August). 2013: liquidation of

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{Africa country timelines Years in Gabon History of Gabon History of Central Africa gabon

Prehistory, protohistory

Before colonization

Colonial period

Since independence

See also

References

Bibliography

External links