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During the last seven centuries, Bantu ethnic groups arrived in the area from several directions to escape enemies or find
new land. Little is known of tribal life before European contact, but tribal art suggests rich cultural heritages.
Early colonization
Little is known about the history of the Gabon region prior to the arrival of the first Portuguese navigators in the Gabon
Estuary in 1472, for the Bantu-speaking peoples inhabiting the region lacked writing. At that time portions of southern Gabon
were loosely linked to the state of Loango, which in turn formed a province of the vast Kongo kingdom. From the offshore islands
of São Tomé and Príncipe, where the Portuguese established sugar plantations, they developed trade with the mainland. From
the late 1500s, Dutch, French, Spanish, and English competitors also exchanged cloth, iron goods, firearms, and alcoholic
beverages for hardwoods, ivory, and a few slaves.
The slave trade achieved extensive development only between the 1760s and 1840s, as a result of heightened demand from
Brazil and Cuba. Interior peoples sent undesirables from their own societies and captives from warfare down the waterways
to the coast where they were collected in barracoons (temporary enclosures) to await the arrival of European ships. The Orungu
clans at Cape Lopez organized a kingdom whose power rested on control of the slave trade through the mouths of the Ogooué
River.
The Mpongwe clans of the estuary, who were already important traders, also profited from the slave trade, as did the Vili
of Loango, whose activities extended throughout southern Gabon. Only the Fang, who were migrating southward from Cameroon
into the forests north of the Ogooué, ordinarily refused to hold slaves or engage in warfare to obtain them. The coastward
migrations of the numerous and often warlike Fang nevertheless contributed to the further decimation and dispersion of many
interior peoples, particularly during the 19th century.
French control
By 1800 the British were becoming the leading traders in manufactures throughout the Gulf of Guinea. After 1815 the French
sought to compete more actively in the commercial sphere and to join Britain in combating the slave trade. To these ends,
Captain Édouard Bouët-Willaumez negotiated treaties with the heads of two Mpongwe clans, King Denis (Antchouwe Kowe Rapontchombo)
on the southern bank of the estuary in 1839 and King Louis (Anguile Dowe) on the northern bank in 1841. They agreed to end
the slave trade and to accept French sovereignty over their lands. The arrival of American Protestant missionaries on the
northern bank in May 1842 to open a school in the lands of King Glass (R'Ogouarowe)- The centre of British, American, and
German commercial activity spurred the French to establish Fort d'Aumale within the territory of King Louis in 1843.
In 1844 France brought in Roman Catholic missionaries to promote French cultural influence among the Mpongwe and neighbouring
peoples. French agents obtained a treaty from King Glass recognizing French sovereignty. In 1849 Bouët-Willaumez organized
a small settlement of mainly Vili freed slaves called Libreville (free town), which with the fort formed the nucleus of the
capital.
During the 1850s and '60s the French gradually extended their control along the adjacent coast and sent explorers into
the interior. The expeditions of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza between 1875 and 1885 established French authority on the upper
Ogooué, where Franceville was founded in 1880, and on the Loango coast. An enlarged Gabon was attached to the French Congo
in 1886 under Brazza as governor.
In 1910 Gabon became one of the four colonies within the federation of French Equatorial Africa. The French delimited
the frontier with the Germans in Cameroon in 1885 and with the Spanish in Río Muni, or Spanish Guinea (later Equatorial Guinea),
in 1900. French occupation of the Gabon interior brought little opposition; but interference with trade and such exactions
as a head tax, a labour tax for public projects, and forced labour provoked considerable resistance, as did the French policy
from 1898 to 1914 of seeking to develop the economy through monopolistic concessionary companies, which devastated settlement,
agricultural production, and trade.
The period between the two world wars saw the creation of a pro-French but anticolonialist elite, mainly from the graduates
of the boys' schools of the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel at Libreville and Lambaréné. From their ranks came most of the politicians
who held office during the Fourth French Republic (1946) when Gabon became an overseas territory with its own assembly and
representation in the French Parliament. In this era France considerably expanded public investment in the economy, in health
care, and in education. In 1958 Gabon became an autonomous republic within the French Community and, after concluding cooperation
agreements with France, achieved independence on Aug. 17, 1960.
At the time of Gabon's independence in 1960, two principal political parties existed: the Bloc Democratique Gabonais (BDG),
led by Leon M'Ba, and the Union Democratique et Sociale Gabonaise (UDSG), led by J.H. Aubame. In the first post-independence
election, held under a parliamentary system, neither party was able to win a majority. The BDG obtained support from three
of the four independent legislative deputies, and M'Ba was named Prime Minister. Soon after concluding that Gabon had an insufficient
number of people for a two-party system, the two party leaders agreed on a single list of candidates. In the February 1961
election, held under the new presidential system, M'Ba became President and Aubame became Foreign Minister.
This one-party system appeared to work until February 1963, when the larger BDG element forced the UDSG members to choose
between a merger of the parties or resignation. The UDSG cabinet ministers resigned, and M'Ba called an election for February
1964 and a reduced number of National Assembly deputies (from 67 to 47). The UDSG failed to muster a list of candidates able
to meet the requirements of the electoral decrees. When the BDG appeared likely to win the election by default, the Gabonese
military toppled M'Ba in a bloodless coup on February 18, 1964. French troops re-established his government the next day.
Elections were held in April 1964 with many opposition participants. BDG-supported candidates won 31 seats and the opposition
16. Late in 1966, the constitution was revised to provide for automatic succession of the vice president should the president
die in office. In March 1967, Leon M'Ba and Omar Bongo (then Albert Bongo) were elected President and Vice President. M'Ba
died later that year, and Omar Bongo became President.
In March 1968, Bongo declared Gabon a one-party state by dissolving the BDG and establishing a new party--the Parti Democratique
Gabonais (PDG). He invited all Gabonese, regardless of previous political affiliation, to participate. Bongo was elected President
in February 1975; in April 1975, the office of vice president was abolished and replaced by the office of prime minister,
who had no right to automatic succession. Bongo was re-elected President in December 1979 and November 1986 to 7-year terms.
Using the PDG as a tool to submerge the regional and tribal rivalries that divided Gabonese politics in the past, Bongo sought
to forge a single national movement in support of the government's development policies.
Economic discontent and a desire for political liberalization provoked violent demonstrations and strikes by students
and workers in early 1990. In response to grievances by workers, Bongo negotiated with them on a sector-by-sector basis, making
significant wage concessions. In addition, he promised to open up the PDG and to organize a national political conference
in March-April 1990 to discuss Gabon's future political system. The PDG and 74 political organizations attended the conference.
Participants essentially divided into two loose coalitions, the ruling PDG and its allies, and the United Front of Opposition
Associations and Parties, consisting of the breakaway Morena Fundamental and the Gabonese Progress Party.
The April 1990 conference approved sweeping political reforms, including creation of a national Senate, decentralization
of the budgetary process, freedom of assembly and press, and cancellation of the exit visa requirement. In an attempt to guide
the political system's transformation to multiparty democracy, Bongo resigned as PDG chairman and created a transitional government
headed by a new Prime Minister, Casimir Oye-Mba. The Gabonese Social Democratic Grouping (RSDG), as the resulting government
was called, was smaller than the previous government and included representatives from several opposition parties in its cabinet.
The RSDG drafted a provisional constitution in May 1990 that provided a basic bill of rights and an independent judiciary
but retained strong executive powers for the president. After further review by a constitutional committee and the National
Assembly, this document came into force in March 1991. Under the 1991 constitution, in the event of the president's death,
the prime minister, the National Assembly president, and the defense minister were to share power until a new election could
be held.
Opposition to the PDG continued, however, and in September 1990, two coup d'etat attempts were uncovered and aborted.
Despite anti-government demonstrations after the untimely death of an opposition leader, the first multiparty National Assembly
elections in almost 30 years took place in September-October 1990, with the PDG garnering a large majority.
Following President Bongo's re-election in December 1993 with 51% of the vote, opposition candidates refused to validate
the election results. Serious civil disturbances led to an agreement between the government and opposition factions to work
toward a political settlement. These talks led to the Paris Accords in November 1994, under which several opposition figures
were included in a government of national unity. This arrangement soon broke down, however, and the 1996 and 1997 legislative
and municipal elections provided the background for renewed partisan politics. The PDG won a landslide victory in the legislative
election, but several major cities, including Libreville, elected opposition mayors during the 1997 local election.
President Bongo coasted to an easy re-election in December 1998 with 66% of the vote against a divided opposition. While
Bongo's major opponents rejected the outcome as fraudulent, international observers characterized the result as representative
even if the election suffered from serious administrative problems. There was no serious civil disorder or protests following
the election, in contrast to the 1993 election. Legislative elections held in 2001-02, which were boycotted by a number of
smaller opposition parties and were widely criticized for their administrative weaknesses, produced a National Assembly almost
completely dominated by the PDG and allied independents.
A constitutional revision of 2003 clears the way for Bongo to run for presidential office as often as he would like. Bongo
is expected to be a candidate again in 2005.
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