officially Gabonese Republic (Fr. République Gabonaise), independent nation, W central Africa, bounded on the NW by Equatorial Guinea, on the N by Cameroon, on the E and S by the Republic of the Congo, and on the W by the Atlantic Ocean. The area of Gabon is 267,667 sq km (103,347 sq mi).

LAND AND RESOURCES

A belt of coastal lowlands, generally narrow in width, is found in the W part of Gabon. To the interior is the plateau zone, which extends over the entire N and E and part of the S. The Crystal Mts. in the N are about 915 m (about 3000 ft) high. The central Chaillu Mts. contain Mt. Iboundji (1575 m/5167 ft), the highest summit in the country. This escarpment is crossed by numerous rivers, notably the Ogooué R., which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Virtually the entire country is contained in the basin of the Ogooué R., which is navigable to Ndjolé. Three-quarters of the land is covered by a dense equatorial rain forest.

Climate.

Gabon has a hot and humid climate. The temperature varies only slightly throughout the year. The average daily temperature is 26.7° C (80° F). From June to September virtually no rain falls but humidity is high. In December and January the rainfall is slight, and during the remaining months it is heavy. At Libreville, the capital, the average annual rainfall is 2515 mm (99 in).

Natural Resources.

Gabon is rich in mineral resources. The country has deposits of uranium, manganese, and petroleum, all of which are being exploited; large deposits of iron ore, considered among the richest in the world, have also been found, and lead and silver ores have been discovered. Gabon also has valuable forest resources, mainly in its stands of okoumé, mahogany, kevazingo, and ebony.

POPULATION

The ethnic makeup of the Gabonese is diversified, although almost all the inhabitants are Bantu-speaking. Of the country’s approximately 40 ethnic groups, the largest are the Fang, the Eshira, and the Adouma. Europeans, mostly French, form a small but prominent minority. Pygmies are believed to have been the original inhabitants of Gabon, but only a few thousand remain. About 60% of the people are Christian; most of the remainder follow traditional beliefs; and about 1% is Muslim. The official language is French.

Population Characteristics.

Gabon had an estimated resident population of 1,208,000 in 1998. More than 70% of the people lived in urban areas, and the overall population density was about 5 per sq km (about 12 per sq mi). Much of the country’s interior is uninhabited.

Principal Cities.

Libreville, the capital and largest city, had (1993) 362,386 inhabitants. Port-Gentil (80,841) is the center of the petroleum and plywood industries.

Education.

More than 60% of the adult population is literate. Schooling is compulsory in Gabon for all children between the ages of 6 and 16. In the early 1990s about 210,000 pupils were annually attending primary schools, and about 42,900 students were enrolled in secondary schools. Gabon’s higher educational institutions are the Université Omar Bongo (1970), in Libreville, and the Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku, in Franceville; the Institute Africain d’Informatique (1971), providing computer training, is also in Libreville.

ECONOMY

The economy of Gabon largely depends on the exploitation of mineral and forest resources, which together account for virtually all export revenues. Gabon’s gross national product of $4450 per capita in the early 1990s was the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Wealth is unequally distributed, however, and about one-fourth of all children under 5 years of age suffer from malnutrition. Life expectancy at birth in the early 1990s averaged 55 years for women and 52 for men; the infant mortality rate was 94 per 1000 live births. The annual budget included revenue of $1.3 billion and expenditure of $1.5 billion.

Agriculture.

The large subsistence agriculture sector occupies two-thirds of Gabon’s active labor force. Cassava, bananas, plantains, sugarcane, taro, and rice are grown for home consumption, and small amounts of cacao, coffee, palm oil, peanuts, and pepper are grown for export.

Forestry and Fishing.

Gabon is the world’s largest producer of okoumé, a softwood used to make plywood. In the early 1990s the annual roundwood cut was about 4.3 million cu m (152 million cu ft). The government runs preservation and reforestation programs. The annual fish catch in the early 1990s was about 22,000 metric tons.

Mining.

Mining has developed rapidly since Gabon’s independence. Annual production of extremely high-grade manganese ore, from Moanda in the SE, was 1.6 million metric tons in the early 1990s. The rich deposits of iron ore located at Mekambo and Bélinga in the NE have reserves estimated at more than 500 million metric tons. Exploitation of the iron ore has been hampered by the lack of transportation facilities, particularly railroads. Uranium production annually totaled about 680 metric tons in the early 1990s. Petroleum is extracted along the coast and offshore. Annual petroleum production stood at 107.8 million barrels in the early 1990s. Oil refineries are at Port-Gentil and Pointe Clairette. Output of petroleum products is about 760,000 metric tons per year. Some gold also is produced.

Manufacturing and Energy.

Gabon has a small manufacturing sector, the leading products being refined petroleum and wood items. Other manufactures include processed food, beer, and cement. About 914 million kwh of electricity were generated annually in the early 1990s. About three-fourths of the power was produced in hydroelectric facilities, primarily at an installation at Kinguélé (near Libreville).

Currency and Foreign Trade.

The currency of Gabon is the CFA franc. In January 1994 France devalued this currency by half; it had remained at the value of 1 French franc to 50 CFA francs since 1948 (535.3 CFA francs equal U.S.$1; 1995). In the early 1990s exports earned $2.3 billion and imports were valued at $886 million. France, the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands are the main trading partners.

Transportation and Communications.

Gabon has about 8590 km (about 5340 mi) of roads, of which about 8% are paved. An 869-km (540-mi) highway crosses Gabon from N to S, linking the country with Loubomo in the Republic of the Congo and Douala in Cameroon. Government planning has stressed road construction. Before the 1970s, the country’s only railroad linked Mbinda (Congo) with the Pointe Noire-Brazzaville Line. Construction began in 1974 on the 697-km (433-mi) Trans-Gabon Railroad; a section between Owendo and Booué was completed in 1982, and the extension to Franceville in the SE was inaugurated in 1986. Owendo and Port-Gentil are the principal ports. The Ogooué R. and its tributaries, the Ivindo and Ngounie rivers, provide navigable waterways. The country’s international airports are at Libreville, Port-Gentil, and Masuku. The government operates television and radio stations. An estimated 171,000 radios and 45,000 televisions were in use in Gabon in the early 1990s.

GOVERNMENT

Under the 1961 constitution, as amended, the president of Gabon was directly elected for a 7-year term, serving as both chief of state and head of government. The unicameral National Assembly comprised 111 elected and 9 appointed members. The Gabonese Democratic party was the sole legal political party. Gabon entered a period of political transition as the 1990s began. The ruling Gabonese Democratic party was reconstituted, and the ban on multiparty politics was lifted. A new constitution was adopted in March 1991.

Executive and Legislature.

The 1991 constitution, as subsequently amended, provides for a directly elected president who serves a 7-year term. The president, who is head of state and of the armed forces, appoints the prime minister, who heads a council of ministers. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly, consisting of 120 directly elected members, and the Senate, with 91 members chosen by regional councils; all legislators serve terms of up to 5 years. Suffrage is universal at age 21. The Gabonese Democratic party is the dominant political group.

Judiciary.

The judiciary comprises the supreme court, the constitutional court, two courts of appeal, and a court of state security, as well as several courts of first instance.

Local Government.

Gabon consists of nine provinces: Estuaire, Haut-Ogooué, Moyen-Ogooué, Ngounié, Nyanga, Ogooué-Maritime, Ogooué-Ivindo, Ogooué-Lolo, and Woleu-Ntem. Each has an appointed governor. The provinces are subdivided into 37 prefectures, each with an appointed prefect.

Health and Welfare.

The infant mortality rate in the late 1990s was about 83 per 1000 live births. Average life expectancy from birth was an estimated 60 years for women and 54 years for men.

Defense.

In the late 1990s the armed forces included an army of 3200 personnel, a navy of 500, and an air force of 1000.

International Organizations.

Gabon is a member of the United Nations (UN), the African Union, the World Trade Organization, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and is an African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) state of the European Union. Gabon was a full member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries from 1975 through 1994.

HISTORY

Discoveries of tools from the end of the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age indicate early settlements in what is now Gabon, but little is known about the first inhabitants. By the 13th century ad the Mpongwe people were established in the country. The first contact with Europeans was with the Portuguese in the 1470s. During the following 350 years, first the Portuguese and later the French, Dutch, and English carried on a lucrative trade in slaves. The first permanent European settlement was made by the French, with the agreement of the Mpongwe ruler, in 1839. Libreville was founded a decade later by freed slaves. The French extended their rule inland, and in 1886 they appointed a governor to Gabon, which was then attached (1889–1904) to the French Congo; from 1910 to 1957, Gabon was part of French Equatorial Africa. The Alsatian medical missionary Albert Schweitzer established a well-known hospital at Lambaréné, west Gabon, in 1913.

During World War II Gabon was held by the Free French, and in 1946 it became an overseas territory of France. The first Gabonese cabinet was formed in 1957, with Leon M’Ba (1902–67) as prime minister. The following year Gabon voted to become a semiautonomous republic in the French Community. The country declared its independence on Aug. 17, 1960, and in 1961 M’Ba was elected president.

A military coup overthrew President M’Ba’s government in 1964, but French troops, in accordance with a Franco-Gabonese defense agreement, intervened and restored him to power; he was reelected president in 1967. Upon M’Ba’s death later that year, Vice-President Albert Bernard Bongo (1935–    ) succeeded to the presidency. Bongo, who later assumed the Islamic first name Omar, was reelected in 1973. During the mid-1970s Gabon began to loosen its ties with France and the French-speaking regional organizations. With Gabonization, the government became a partner in many foreign firms, and native Gabonese filled management positions once held by foreigners. Favorable markets for Gabonese exports, especially oil, natural gas, uranium, and manganese, contributed to rapid economic expansion during the 1970s, but the economy cooled during the following decade.

Reelected to 7-year terms in December 1979 and November 1986, President Bongo faced violent opposition as the 1990s began. Tentative steps toward a multiparty system were taken in 1990, but the newly legalized opposition parties accused the government of fraud in the legislative elections of 1990–91. The National Assembly enacted a new constitution in March 1991. Bongo won reelection to a 5-year term in December 1993, again despite opposition charges of fraud. Thousands of foreign workers left Gabon in 1995 when the government imposed costly residence permit requirements. The ruling Gabonese Democratic party retained its parliamentary majority in the elections of December 1996. Bongo, the country’s leader for the last 31 years, was reelected for a 7-year term, with two-thirds of the vote over divided opposition in the presidential election of December 1998; international observers cited numerous irregularities in the voting procedures.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 1012. Selected African countries.