Franceville is one of the four largest cities in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, with a population of 110,568 at the 2013 census. It lies on the

Mpassa River The Mpassa River is a tributary of the Ogooue River. It flows in Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, ...

and at the end of the

Trans-Gabon Railway 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. H ...

and the N3 road. It grew from a village named Masuku when

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà, later known as Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza; 26 January 1852 – 14 September 1905), was an Italian-born, naturalized French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogoou� ...

chose it to resettle former slaves and renamed it Francheville (meaning "city of the freed") in 1880. The city later came to be called Franceville (meaning "French city").

Overview

Brazza founded Franceville on June 13, 1880. The former name was Masuku. As time went on, it became known as Franceville. Features of the town include St Hilaire's Church (built in 1899), a large statue of President

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 ...

(who was born in Franceville), a

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

institute, and a golf course. Its

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

is west, in Mvengué. Bongo was buried in Franceville on June 18, 2009. There is a market where numerous items can be purchased, including clothing, fruit and vegetables, electronics, meats, and the market also sells

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption, most often referring to the meat of game in Africa. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity for inhabitants of humid tropi ...

, which includes

Central African rock python The Central African rock python (''Python sebae'') is a species of large constrictor snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of 11 living species in the genus ''Python''. Africa's largest snake and ...

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

and local species of animals. There are a few hotels, of which the best known is the Hôtel Poubara, overlooking the president's holiday home. Franceville also has many waterfalls. One of the best known is the Poubara Falls, which is co-located with a hydroelectric plant that provides the area with constant electricity.

Population

The population was 31,183 in 1993.Gabon: Provinces, Major Cities & Localities.
Citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2012-01-24. The 2010 population was approximated at 56,000. Another population number is 42,967, possibly retrieved following the disputed census of 2003 (alternately a 2004 estimate). Another recent estimate gives the population as 75,000.

Climate

Franceville has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Aw''). There are a lot of thunderstorms in the city.

Education

Franceville is home to the University of Science and Technology of Masuku (USTM), Gabon's

hard sciences Hard science and soft science are colloquialism, colloquial terms used to compare scientific fields on the basis of perceived Scientific method, methodological rigor, exactitude, and objectivity. Roughly speaking, the formal sciences & natural sci ...

university, with the other subjects being taught in

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 ...

. It welcomes students from all African countries. It is home to the Canadian-sponsored Polytechnic and Faculty of Science and the National Higher Institute of Agronomy and Biotechnology, which trains agricultural engineers. The city is also home to a doctoral school in the 2nd

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...

. Schools include École publique conventionnée de Franceville.École publique conventionnée de Franceville
"

AEFE The Agency for French Education Abroad, or Agency for French Teaching Abroad, (french: Agence pour l'enseignement français à l'étranger; abbreviation: AEFE), is a national public agency under the administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...

. Retrieved on May 3, 2015.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Franceville is twinned with: *

Vire Vire () is a town and a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Vire Normandie. Geography The town is located on the river Vire. Much of i ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(since 1983)

References

Bibliography

*Maria Petringa, ''Brazza, A Life for Africa''. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006.

External links

Franceville map and weather
at Mindat.org
Oklo mine info
site of over a dozen Precambrian natural nuclear reactors {{Authority control 1880 establishments in Africa Geological type localities Populated places established in 1880 Populated places in Haut-Ogooué Province People of Liberated African descent Repatriated Africans Repatriated slaves