Colony of Gabon

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

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• During World War II the state conscripted half of the adult male population for road construction and on plantations managed by the government-sponsored Sociétés Indigènes de Prévoyance. The punishment for refusing the corvée was imprisonment.
• Because cash was scarce for most of the colonial era, farmers were forced to pay taxes in ivory, palm oil, and rubber.
• Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza led his first mission to the Gabon-Congo area in 1875 and founded Franceville.
• By the time of Gabonese independence in 1960, the capital was a trading post and minor administrative centre with a population of 32,000.

Picture

Gabon remained loyal to Vichy France until 12 November 1940, when the Vichy administration withdrew following the Battle of Gabon.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_France.svg, https://diffusion.shom.fr/pro/downloadable/download/sampl..., PD, file

Sources

• French Equatorial Africa (Wikipedia)
• Colony of Gabon (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.