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Libreville

Capital of GabonLibreville is a port in north-western Gabon, on the Gabon Estuary near the Gulf of Guinea, just north of the equator.

Why it's the capital

In 1849 the French resettled 52 people freed from a captured slave ship here, and the settlement was named Libreville. From 1888 to 1904 it was the administrative capital of France's Congo-Gabon colony, until that capital moved to Brazzaville.

Fun facts

  1. Before the town existed, the Mpongwé people lived here, and in 1839 a French admiral signed a treaty with their ruler, known to the French as King Denis.
  2. American missionaries from New England set up a mission at Baraka, now part of Libreville, in 1842.
  3. Pongara National Park lies just across the Gabon Estuary from the city.

Finding it on the globe

Follow the equator to Africa's Atlantic coast. Libreville is a little north of the line, on the coast of Gabon.

Easy to mix up

Its name is French for 'free town', so it is easy to confuse with Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, which is much farther north-west in West Africa.

Sources: Wikipedia: Libreville, Wikipedia: History of Gabon, Wikipedia: Gabon