Gabon is a country located on the Atlantic (West) coast of central Africa, sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Congo and the Gulf of Guinea. Gabon has an equatorial climate with an extensive ecosystem and a heavy equatorial rain forests covering nearly 85% of Gabon territory, with savanna areas in the southeastern and southwestern part of the country covering an additional 10%. The remaining area is composed of bodies of water and developed areas. The Ogooue River, the largest river in West Africa between the Niger and the Congo, drains most of Gabon. The Ogooue cuts through three major geographical regions: the coastal lowlands, the plateau region, and the mountains.
The coastal lowlands lie along the Atlantic Ocean and extend up into the river valleys that slice through the broad interior plateau. The lowlands are lined with beaches and lagoons that are fringed with mangrove swamps; forests extend from the banks of the broad, slow-moving rivers and cover most of the lowland areas. Inland the terrains rises to a plateau, and in some areas to mountains are as high as 5,000 feet. Although dominated by large tracts of thick forest, the interior of the country offers scenery of great beauty, including mountains, rolling hills, forests, and scattered savannas.
Gabon covers an area of 267, 668 km2 .The capital and largest city is Libreville. Gabon had its independence from France on August 17, 1960. In the early 1990, Gabon introduced a new democratic constitution that allowed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed many governmental institutions. With its small population, abundant natural resources, foreign private investment, political and economic stability, Gabon is one of the most prosperous country in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
The population of Gabon is nearly 1.5 million (1,454,867). Almost all Gabonese are of Bantu origin, though Gabon has at least forty ethnic groups with separate languages and cultures.
Ethnic group boundaries are less sharply drawn in Gabon than elsewhere in Africa. French, the official language, may be regarded as a unifying force. It is estimated that 80% of the country’s population are able to speak French, and that one-third of Libreville residents are native speakers of the language. More than 10,000 French people live in Gabon, and France is the predominant foreign cultural and commercial influence.
Gabon has a tropical climate. It is hot and humid during most of the year and is typically equatorial. High temperatures range from 23°C to 28°C (75° to 82°F) in the dry seasons and from 30°C to 34°C (86° to 93°F) in the rainy seasons. Four distinguishable seasons are evident, although they vary somewhat each year: the long dry season from late May until mid-September; the short rainy season from mid-September until mid-December; the short dry season from mid-December through January; and the long rainy season from February until late May. Rainfall in Libreville is about 115 inches a year; the largest amounts fall in October, November, March, and April. The humidity is always high. The summer months, as in the southern hemisphere, are the coolest time of the year.
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