Lambaréné is a town and the capital of Moyen-Ogooué in

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

. It has a population of 38,775 as of 2013, and is located 75 kilometres south of the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

. Lambaréné is based in the Central African Rainforest at the river Ogooué. This river divides the city into 3 districts: Rive Gauche, Ile Lambaréné and Rive Droite. The Albert Schweitzer Hospital and the districts Adouma and Abongo are located on Rive Droite. The districts Atongowanga, Sahoty, Dakar, Grand Village, Château, Lalala and Bordamur build the Ile Lambaréné. The majority of the people in Lambaréné live in the district Isaac located on Rive Gauche. This district hosts the Lambaréné Airport. Today Lambaréné is inhabited mainly by Bantu ethnic groups such as the

Fang A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fangs, ...

, Bapounou, Eshira, and Myéné; these displaced the

Pygmies In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

to the east and north of Gabon. The main economic activity in the town is the fishery and a new port is under construction.

Albert Schweitzer hospital

The Franco-German

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

winner

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

(1875–1965) founded his hospital in Lambaréné in 1913. Today, the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer comprises departments of

Internal Medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

Surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

Paediatric Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Prev ...

s, a maternity clinic, a dentistry clinic and since 1981 a Medical Research Unit, which focuses on

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

research.

Climate

Lambaréné 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 ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Aw''). The average temperature at Lambaréné is 27 °C. The rainy season starts in October and ends in June (including a short dry season in December/January). The long dry season is from July to September.

Notable residents

* Albert Schwietzer, theologian, polymath, musician and music scholar, and physician, founded and supervised the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné in 1913. *

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza (born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà; 26 January 1852 – 14 September 1905) was an Italian-French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogooué region of Central Africa, ...

, Italo-French explorer and later colonial governor of French Equatorial Africa, resided at Lambaréné on several occasions. * Rose Francine Rogombé, Interim President following the death of

Omar Bongo Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until Death and state funeral of Omar Bongo, his death in 2009. A member of the Gabonese De ...

, was born in Lambaréné. *

André Raponda Walker André Raponda Walker (1871–1968) was a Gabonese author, ethnographer, Catholic priest, and missionary. Walker wrote extensively about Gabonese language and culture.Biography of Raponds Walker
Serigne Ahmadou Bamaba Mbacke - spiritual leader of Mouridism was exiled in Lambrene by The French Colonialist for 7 years accessed 11 August 2008

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Medical Research Unit, Albert Schweitzer Hospital Lambaréné

Austrian Social Service in Lambaréne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambarene Populated places in Moyen-Ogooué Province