Libreville - City of Gabon

Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region.

The area was inhabited by the Mpongwé tribe long before the French acquired the land in 1839. In 1846, L'Elizia, a Brazilian ship doing slave trade, was captured by the French navy near Loango. The slaves were freed and founded Libreville in 1848. It was the chief port of French Equatorial Africa from 1934 to 1946 and was the central focus of the Battle of Gabon in 1940.

Libreville was named in imitation of Freetown and grew only slowly as a trading post and a minor administrative centre to a population of 31,000 on independence in 1960. Since independence, the city has grown rapidly and now houses nearly half the national population.

Sights in Libreville include the National Museum of Arts and Traditions, the French cultural centre, St Marie’s Cathedral, the carved wood church of St Michael, Nkembo, the Arboretum de Sibang and two cultural villages. Libreville's main market lies in Mont-Bouët. Gabon's school of administration and school of law are in Libreville. Libreville also hosts the Omar Bongo University , various research institutes and a library. Alongside the Komo estuary is the Pongara National Park of 929 km2. Behind Cap Esterias is Akanda National Park, famed for its large congregations of migrating waterbirds.