Figure 1.-This family snapshot was taken in Gabon about 1900. It shows a French boy playing with his Gabonese nanny on the porch of their home. The cloth wrapped around the child's waist looks very strange. Surely it is not a garment usually worn by the child. We suspect that it was put for propriety on only to take the photo. If that is true, it could be possible that the child was playing unclothed or almost unclothed like most Gabonese children of that age. At the time that would not have happened at home in France. The Europeans living in Africa, however, after a while became less strict about such matters.

Gradually the French became the dominant European power in what is now modern Gabon. The important French trading companies entered the Atlantic slave trade (17th century). It is at this time that France began implanting colonies in the Caribbean and needed workers to replace the Native Americans on plantations, especilly sugar plantations. The Native Americans sucumed to mistreatment, and more importantly the lack of resistance to European diseases. Christian missionaries were active in Gabon. French Jesuit missionaries began working along the coast at this time and they gradually began working with the native kingdoms in the interior. The British began working to end the slave trade after the Napoleonic Wars, but at first got little support from French authorities. French vessels continue to participate in the slave trade. The French Navy helped found the first French settlement (1839). It was located on the on the left bank of the Gabon River estuary. It is at this time that France concluded a treaty with Denis, the African king whose controlled the northern Gabon coast. He ceded his kingdom to France in return for French protection. The French concluded A similar treaty in the south gaining control of the southern coast below the Ogooué River. Over time other coastal chiefs accepted French authority. The French after the Revolution of 1848 finally joined efforts ending the slave trade, intercepted a Brazilian slaver (1849). The slaves were set free at a site along the coast at the mouth of the Komo River. It was an esturine area used by traders. Libreville was essentially the French version of Freetown and Monrovia. It remained a small town for decades, but gradually as it grew and expanded into the hinterland. developed into the country's capital and largest city. French explorers after the foundation of Libreville gradually penetrated into the interior. Paul du Chaillu went up the Ogooué River (1855-59). At thectime without real roads, rivers were very important. He was the first European to see a live gorilla. Marquis de Compiègne, Alfred Marche, and other explorers followed and mapped the tributaries and other geographic features. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza explored virtually the entire course of the river (1876–78). He founded Franceville (1880). By this time, the Scramble for Africa was well underway. The European powers at the Congress of Berlin (1885) recognized French rights over the right bank of the Congo, an area that Brazza had explored extensively. The area became a French territory (1888). In 1890, Gabon formally became a part of French Congo. It was separated into a district administrative region in 1903 and in 1910 was organized as a separate colony, part of French Equatorial Africa. The French over time changed their colonial administration. Thus Gabon was at times part of the French Congo and then French Equatorial Africa.

European Contact

Early French Activities

Gradually the French became the dominant European power in what is now modern Gabon.

Slave Trade

Gabon was too far south to be affected by the Arab Trans-Saharan slave trade. This changed with ghe arrival of the Europeans. The important French trading companies entered the Atlantic slave trade (17th century). It is at this time that France began implanting colonies in the Caribbean and needed workers to replace the Native Americans on plantations, especilly sugar plantations. The Native Americans sucumed to mistreatment, and more importantly the lack of resistance to European diseases. Christian missionaries were active in Gabon. French Jesuit missionaries began working along the coast at this time and they gradually began working with the native kingdoms in the interior. The British began working to end the slave trade after the Napoleonic Wars, but at first got little support from French authorities. French vessels continue to participate in the slave trade. The French after the Revolution of 1848 finally joined efforts ending the slave trade, intercepted a Brazilian slaver (1849). The slaves were set free at a site along the coast at the mouth of the Komo River. It was an esturine area used by traders. Libreville was essentially the French version of Freetown and Monrovia. It remained a small town for decades, but gradually as it grew and expanded into the hinterland. developed into the country's capital and largest city.

Move into the Interor

The French Navy helped found the first French settlement (1839). It was located on the on the left bank of the Gabon River estuary. It is at this time that France concluded a treaty with Denis, the African king whose controlled the northern Gabon coast. He ceded his kingdom to France in return for French protection. The French concluded A similar treaty in the south gaining control of the southern coast below the Ogooué River. Over time other coastal chiefs accepted French authority. French explorers after the foundation of Libreville gradually penetrated into the interior. Paul du Chaillu went up the Ogooué River (1855-59). At the time without real roads, rivers were very important. He was the first European to see a live gorilla. Marquis de Compiègne, Alfred Marche, and other explorers followed and mapped the tributaries and other geographic features. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza explored virtually the entire course of the river (1876–78). He founded Franceville (1880).

Colonization

By this time, the Scramble for Africa was well underway. The European powers at the Congress of Berlin (1885) recognized French rights over the right bank of the Congo, an area that Brazza had explored extensively. The area became a French territory (1888). In 1890, Gabon formally became a part of French Congo. It was separated into a district administrative region in 1903 and in 1910 was organized as a separate colony, part of French Equatorial Africa. The French over time changed their colonial administration. Thus Gabon was at times part of the French Congo and then French Equatorial Africa.

World War II

After the fall of France (June 1940), colonial administrators declared loyalty to Marshal Petain's Vichy regime. The first colonies to defect to the Free French were the African central African colonies Chad, Cameroon, and Equatorial Africa) that surrounded Gabon (August 1940). Authorities in Gabon, however, maintained their loyalty to Vichy. The World War II Battle of Gabon pitted the Free French against Vichy forces (November 1940). General DeGualle oversaw the operation. He arrived in Douala (October 8). He orfered a Free French offensive to take French Equatorial Africa (modern Gabon) (October 12). The other colonies in the area had already joined the Free French. De Gaulle wanted a Fee French base in the colonies. He was interested in initisting an offensive north binto Libya where the Italins were thretening the British in Egypt dfending the Suez Canal. He thus headed north to have aersinal look at the the situation in Chad, the French colony bordering southern Libya. Free French forces crossed into French Equatorial Africa and took Mitzic (October 27). The Vichy garrison at Lambaréné capitulated (November 5). The main Free French forces under General Philippe Leclerc and Battalion Chief Marie Pierre Koenig departed from Douala, French Cameroon. Their objective was to take Libreville. There was a brief naval action. The Shoreham class sloop HMS Milford sank the Vichy submarine Poncelet (November 8). The Free French under Koenig's landed at Pointe La Mondah. H is forces included French Legionnaires (including the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade) as well as Senegalese and Cameroonian troops loyal to the Fee French. Lysander aircraft operating out of Douala bombed the Libreville airbase (November 9). The Free French subsequently captured the air base. The final Vichy forces capitulated at Port Gentil (Novembr 12). Vichy loyalist Governor Masson committed suicide. This was the first part of the French Empire that the Free French orgnized in London managed to seize control of from Vichy.

Independence

After the War, Gabon achieved self-government as an autonomous republic within the French Union (1958). France then granted and independence (1960). Libreville has developed into an important African city since indepedence. Independent Gabon has been dominated by two autocratic leaders. The first president was Léon M’Ba who died in a French hospital (1967). M’Ba was replace by his vice president, Albert Bernard Bongo. He chnged his name to El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba when he converted to Islam (1974). He s one of the longest-serving heads of state worldwide. The country has Gabon has a nominally democratic multi-party system and a constitution adopted (1990s). The relative stability is in part due to a degree of economic success. Gabon has proven relatively stable while wars and military coups have swirled all around it.

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Created: 2:56 PM 5/27/2013
Last updated: 2:56 PM 5/27/2013