12/03/2024
Libreville, city and capital of Gabon, located on the north shore of the Gabon Estuary, which empties into the Gulf of Guinea. It is built on a succession of hills overlooking a well-sheltered port. The former European sector (modern in appearance and the site of the principal administrative and commercial buildings) climbs a plateau that rises from the sea; traditional African villages partially surround this community, ending at the estuary. The international airport is 7 miles (11 km) north, and a growing system of roads links the city with towns in the interior.
Pongoue (Mpongwe) people first settled the estuary after the 16th century, followed by the Fang, who had migrated south from the Cameroon area, in the 19th century. Fort-d’Aumale was built by the French in 1843 on the estuary’s north bank, and a Catholic mission was founded a year later. In 1849 a settlement of formerly enslaved people from the ship Elizia and a group of Pongoue villages were given the name Libreville (meaning “free town”). In 1850 the French abandoned their fort and resettled on the plateau that is now the site of the administrative and commercial sector. Between 1860 and 1874, the British, Germans, and Americans established businesses in Libreville, which from 1888 to 1904 was the capital of French Equatorial Africa.