History of Gabon

Kingdom of Loango, 1550–1883 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Kingdom of Loango was a state created by Kongo people during approximately the 16th to 19th centuries in what is now the western part of the Republic of the Congo, Southern Gabon and Cabinda. By the 14th century, the Vili Kingdom of Loango had extended its control northward along the Gabonese coastline. Loango exported copper to the European market, and was a major producer and exporter of cloth. The earliest reference to Loango in a documentary source is a mention around 1561 by Sebastião de Souto, a priest in Kongo.

Seat of power: Loango, Republic of Congo

French Congo, 1882–1906 Draft, not yet reviewed

The French Congo, also known as Middle Congo, was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo and parts of Gabon, and the Central African Republic. The French Congo began at Brazzaville on 10 September 1880 as a protectorate over the Bateke people along the north bank of the Congo River. The plan to develop the colony was to grant massive concessions to some thirty French companies. It formally added Gabon in 1891, was officially renamed Middle Congo in 1903, and was temporarily divorced from Gabon in 1906.

Seat of power: Libreville

Colony of Gabon, 1906–1960 Draft, not yet reviewed

In 1910 Gabon became a territory of French Equatorial Africa, a federation that survived until 1958. The colonial regime imposed a two-tier social code, placing the vast majority of the population under the indigénat, which assigned them an inferior legal status, levied heavy taxation, and mandated the corvée (forced labour). In 1940 the Allies invaded Gabon to overthrow the pro-Vichy France colonial administration. On 28 November 1958 Gabon became an autonomous republic within the French Community, and on 17 August 1960 it became fully independent.

Seat of power: Libreville

Gabon, 1960 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

Gabon, officially the Gabonese Republic, is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, lying on the equator. Léon M'ba was elected first president of Gabon in 1961, and when he died in 1967, Omar Bongo replaced him as president. In 1991 the Parliament of Gabon adopted a new constitution, and the country switched to multiparty elections. In August 2023, after the announcement that Ali Bongo had won a third term in the general election, military officers announced that they had taken power in a coup d'état and cancelled the election results.

Seat of power: Libreville

Rulers

• Léon M'ba, President of Gabon, 1960–1967
• Jean-Hilaire Aubame, President of Gabon, 1964–1964
• Omar Bongo, President of Gabon, 1967–2009
• Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, 2009–2023
• Rose Francine Rogombe, President of Gabon, 2009–2009
• Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge, President of Gabon, 2009–2009
• Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, President of Gabon, 2023 to today