ABSTRACT
Starting from a coastal settlement on the Gabon river in 1839, and the establishment of Libreville in 1848, the French gradually extended their control over various parts of the Atlantic coastlands between Spanish Guinea and the Portuguese settlements near the Congo mouth. Though it is the smallest and most sparsely populated country of the three, it is incomparably the wealthiest. Gabon achieves the unusual distinction for a young underdeveloped country of balancing both her budget and her overseas payments, and her economy is likely to expand considerably in the next few years. Gabon’s most famous resident is Dr. Albert Schweitzer, in charge of his village medical centre at Lambarene. However, timber, petroleum and mining activities concern only a small proportion of Gabon’s population. Agriculture is the mainstay of the scattered rural population, and until quite recently was largely in the hands of primitive subsistence cultivators.
