Gabon is a West African country with a multi-party presidential regime, bordering Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. The country has two dry and two rainy seasons, with agriculture and industries such as oil refining, manganese, and gold. Gabon is home to nearly 40% of the world’s rainforests, and organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF work to protect the environment. The Musée du Gabon offers an online tour of the arts and traditions, and internationally known people such as Daniel Cousin and Patience Dabany have associations with Gabon.
Gabon is a country in West Africa, along the Atlantic Ocean, near the equator, roughly dividing its northern third from the southern two-thirds. It borders Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea, with the Republic of the Congo having the longest joint border. The capital is Libreville.
The country’s official name is the Republic of Gabon, and it is a republic with a multi-party presidential regime, having gained independence from France in 1960. A population estimate in July 2007 was 1,454,867. French is the official language of Gabon, but tribal languages such as Fang and Bapounou/Eschira are also spoken.
The country of Gabon experiences two dry seasons and two rainy seasons, the dry seasons from May to September and December to January and the rainy seasons from September to December and February to May. Gabon’s agricultural products include cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, and sugar, as well as cattle and fish. Industries include oil refining, manganese, and gold and lumber.
The Musée du Gabon offers an online tour of the arts and traditions, including virtual journeys through the rainforest. The origins, archeology, rituals, ancestor worship, media and everyday objects are exhibited in separate rooms. The virtual museum was opened in 2006 to conserve and protect Gabon’s heritage, as well as to encourage the return of cultural objects that have been housed outside the country.
Gabon is home to nearly 40% of the world’s rainforests. Since 1985, the Wildlife Conservation Society has been working in Gabon, helping, among other projects, to collect data on flora and fauna, train “ecoguides” and study the effects of logging on the environment. Other organizations such as WWF, World Environment Protection Organization, Sylvafrica and Ecofac also work to protect the environment.
Some internationally known people have associations with Gabon. Daniel Cousin is a French-Gabonese footballer from Libreville who plays for Scottish club Rangers. Stéphane Lasme of Libreville is a professional basketball player who, in 2007, was playing for the Los Angeles D-Fenders after a game with the Golden State Warriors. Patience Dabany, Gabonese musician born in Brazzaville, Congo, specializes in singing and percussion and has an international following. Additionally, Gabon, then French Equatorial Africa, is where Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer established his field hospital in 1913.
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