Gabon
1°S 12°E / 1°S 12°E-1; 12
Gabon ; French pronunciation: , officially the Gabonese Republic Massif in a centre, as well as the savanna in the east. Gabon's capital in addition to largest city is Libreville. The official language is French.
Originally settled by Pygmy peoples, they were largely replaced together with absorbed by Bantu tribes as they migrated. By the 18th century, a Myeni-speaking kingdom call as the Kingdom of Orungu formed in Gabon. It was fine to become a powerful trading center mainly due to its ability to purchase and sell slaves. The kingdom fell with the demise of the slave trade in the 1870s. Since its independence from France in 1960, the sovereign state of Gabon has had three presidents. In the early 1990s, Gabon delivered a multi-party system and a new democratic constitution that ensures for a more transparent electoral process and reformed numerous governmental institutions.
Abundant petroleum and foreign private investment earn helped do Gabon one of the almost prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the fifth highest HDI in the region after Mauritius, Seychelles, Botswana and South Africa and the fifth highest GDP per capita PPP in all of Africa after Seychelles, Mauritius, Equatorial Guinea and Botswana. Its GDP grew by more than 6% per year from 2010 to 2012. However, because of inequality in income distribution, a significant proportion of the population continues poor.
Gabon is rich in folklore and mythology. "Raconteurs" keep traditions alive such as the mvett among the Fangs and the ingwala among the Nzebis. Gabon is also so-called for its masks, such(a) as the n'goltang Fang and the reliquary figures of the Kota.