Language/French/Culture/Gabon-Timeline

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Historical Timeline for Gabon - A chronology of key events
Gabon-Timeline-PolyglotClub.png

Forest-Gabon-Timeline-PolyglotClub.jpg


Prehistory, protohistory[edit | edit source]

−400,000 years cut stones found near Otoumbi, in the center of the country, attest to a settlement from this time.
−12,000 years axes and stone arrowheads dating from this period are found in the province of Moyen-Ogooué and in the south of the country.
−8000 years drawings engraved on rock, dating from this period, are found near Cape Lopez.
−5000 years The first pygmies populate the territory of present-day Gabon.
Iron Age iron metallurgy in Gabon, attested by traces found in several sites.
eleventh century Bantu migrations from the north. Little by little, the Bantus are numerically supplanting the pygmies.

Before colonization[edit | edit source]

1472 Portuguese sailors are the first Europeans to enter the Komo estuary.
1480 the Portuguese navigator Fernan Vaz explores the lagoon that today bears his name, south of the Ogooué delta.
1600 the Dutch build a fort on the island of Corisco which will be destroyed shortly after by the Mpongwè.
1609 shipwreck of the Mauritius, a ship of the Dutch East India Company off Cape Lopez.
1698 Dutch sailors destroy several Mpongwe villages in the Gabon estuary.
1722 Pirate Captain Bartholomew Roberts is killed by the English navy off Cape Lopez.

The colonial era[edit | edit source]

1839 Mpongwe leader Denis Rapontchombo authorizes the French to settle on the left bank of the Komo estuary.
1841 the "king" Louis Dowe in turn authorizes the French to settle on the right bank of the Estuary.
1843 construction of Fort-d'Aumale, the first permanent French settlement on the Komo estuary.
1849 Louis-Édouard Bouët-Willaumetz founded Libreville where he installed slaves freed from a slave ship.
1862 treaty establishing French sovereignty over Cape Lopez.
1873 Alfred Marche and the Marquis Victor de Compiègne attempt to ascend the course of the Ogooué.
1875-1878 first expedition of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in the Ogooué basin.
1886 Gabon becomes a French colony.
1889 the Woermann company exports the first okoumé ball to Hamburg.
1896 the Awandji take the post of Lastourville and kill the French administrator.
1898 concessionary companies are allocated vast territories which they put in regulated section.
1899 André Raponda-Walker is the first Gabonese ordained priest.
1900 establishment of the border between Gabon and Spanish Guinea.
1900 death in captivity, in Gabon, of Samory Touré.
1903-1908 Mitsogo revolt against the French establishment in Ngounié.
1908 pacification of Haut-Ivindo by Captain Fabiani who founds the post of Makokou.
1911 France cedes Woleu-Ntem to Germany, which links it to Cameroon.
1911 surrender of the leader of the Bakaya, Mavurulu, after several years of guerrilla warfare.
1913 Albert Schweitzer founds a hospital in Lambaréné.
1913 the mitsogo chief Mbombé dies in prison in Mouila.
1914-1915 fighting in Woleu-Ntem between Senegalese tirailleurs and German troops from Cameroon.
1922 Administrator Montespan signs a peace treaty with Chief Wongo, thus temporarily putting an end to the Awandji guerrillas.
1925 Haut-Ogooué is attached to Moyen-Congo.
1929 the surrender of Chief Wongo puts an end to the Awandji uprising in Ogooué-Lolo.
1933 Léon Mba is exiled in Oubangui-Chari.
1940 the colony of Gabon rallies to Free France after some fighting between Vichysts and Gaullists.
1946 Jean-Hilaire Aubame, founder of the Democratic and Social Union of Gabon, is the first Gabonese deputy to the French National Assembly.
1946 Haut-Ogooué is definitively attached to Gabon.
1956 Léon Mba is elected mayor of Libreville.
1956 drilling of the first oil well, in Ozouri, by the Société des Pétroles d'Afrique Équatoriale, future Elf-Gabon.
1958 Gabon becomes an autonomous state within the framework of the French Community.

Since independence[edit | edit source]

1960 the Republic of Gabon becomes an independent state.
1961 Léon Mba is elected President of the Republic.
1962 COMILOG (Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué) begins mining manganese.
1964 failure of an attempted military coup against Léon Mba thanks to the intervention of French soldiers.
1967 death of Léon Mba. Albert-Bernard Bongo succeeds him as President of the Republic.
1968 President Bongo establishes a one-party regime.
1970 opening of the first buildings of the University of Libreville.
1971 assassination in Libreville of the opponent Germain Mba by two mercenaries.
1973 Albert-Bernard Bongo converts to Islam and becomes Omar Bongo.
1975 Gabon becomes a member of OPEC.
1976 construction of the sports stadiumde Libreville which hosts the first Central African Games.
1977 assassination of the Gabonese poet Ndouna Dépénaud.
1977 Omar Bongo launches a series of major works in Libreville.
1977 creation of the national company Air Gabon.
1977 summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Libreville.
1978 the Gabonese government expels thousands of Beninese nationals.
1981 foundation of MORENA (MOuvement de REdressement NAtional), an illegal opposition party.
1981 Gabon expels several thousand Cameroonian nationals.
1981 Omar Bongo is received by Ronald Reagan in Washington.
1982 official trip of Pope John Paul II to Gabon.
1983 François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic, on an official trip to Gabon.
1983 creation, in Libreville, of CICIBA (Center International des CIvilisations BAntoues).
1985 capital execution of Captain Alexandre Mandja Ngokouta in Libreville.
1986 inauguration of the Libreville-Franceville railway line (the Transgabonais).
1990 after a period of political turmoil, reestablishment of the multiparty system.
1990 French military intervention in Port-Gentil and Libreville to evacuate foreign nationals (Operation Requin).
1993 presidential election, Omar Bongo wins over Father Paul Mba Abessole.
1994 the devaluation of the CFA franc leads to an increase in the price of imported products and a drop in the purchasing power of Gabonese.
1994 Gabon leaves OPEC.
1995 Gabonese police deport thousands of "undocumented" foreigners.
1996 Father Paul Mba Abessole is elected mayor of Libreville.
1996 an Ebola virus disease epidemic kills several dozen people in Ogooué-Ivindo (village of Mayibout).
1997 Omar Bongo supports the return to power of Denis Sassou-Nguesso in Congo-Brazzaville.
1998 re-election of Omar Bongo as President of the Republic.
2001 Omar Bongo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Idriss Déby lose the lawsuit they brought before the French courts against the writer François-Xavier Verschave for "insulting a foreign head of state".
2002 Creation of 13 national parks
2002 Paul Mba Abessole becomes minister in charge of human rights under President Bongo.
2005 new electoral success without surprise of Omar Bongo Ondimba in the presidential election.
2006 liquidation of the national company Air Gabon, which has been struggling with financial difficulties for years.
2007 creation of the private company Gabon Airlines.
2009 death of Omar Bongo on June 7.
2009 election of Ali Bongo Ondimba, Minister of Defense and son of Omar Bongo Ondimba (August 30).
2012 co-organization of the 2012 African Cup of Nations
2013 liquidation of the company Gabon Airlines.
2016 re-election of Ali Bongo Ondimba
2017 organization of the 2017 African Cup of Nations

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