The oldest human artefacts to have been discovered in Gabon are stone spearheads, which date back to 7000 BC, but little more is known about Gabonese prehistory. The earliest of the present inhabitants are the Pygmies; from AD 1100 onwards various Bantu tribes began migrating into the area. It was in 1472, during this period of migration which continued for several centuries, that the Portuguese discovered Gabon. Thereafter, Gabon was primarily of interest to the Dutch, French and British, who negotiated with the coastal tribes for slaves and ivory from the interior. Between the 16th and 18th centuries the region was part of the Loango empire, during which time the main inhabitants were the Omiéné and Fang tribes. The slave trade ceased in the middle of the 19th century, but not before it had destroyed the social inter-relationships of the tribes it affected. Land on either side of the Gabon River was annexed peacefully by the French during the mid-19th century as a province of French Equatorial Africa.

The Republic of Gabon moved peacefully into independence in 1960 after a three-year period of internal self-government. A French-style constitution was adopted the following year and Léon M’Ba became Gabon’s first President. After seven years of stormy pluralism, the ruling Parti Démocratique Gabonais (PDG) declared Gabon a one-party state, but retained broadly pro-Western policies. President Omar Bongo, who succeeded M’Ba on the latter’s death in 1967 and is now one of Africa’s longest serving heads of state, has maintained them ever since. Bongo was re-elected in 1998 with 67 per cent of the vote. In the past, opposition parties have failed to be a serious challenge to the position. In 2003, a change of constitution meant that Bongo could run for office as many times as he wanted. This enabled him to run in the November 2005 presidential elections, in which he won 79 per cent of the vote, giving him a further seven years in power.

At the heart of the country's policies lie exceptionally close relations with France. In particular, Gabon is a key supplier to France of uranium and a number of other strategic minerals. Following recent changes to the constitution (see Government), Bongo, now is his late 60s, is likely to stay as president for life. As one of the region’s elder statesmen, Bongo has also played an important role in mediating political crises in various countries including the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Burundi and latterly the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gabon’s only problem in the region concerns the island of Mbagne which lies in the Corisco Bay, potentially the site of large oil and gas deposits: occupied by Gabon in 1970, it is also claimed by Equatorial Guinea.

From 1990, in common with much of the rest of Africa, the Bongo government effected the transformation from a one-party state to a pluralistic political system. The 120-seat elected National Assembly has acquired genuine political power although it remains dominated by the PDG, which at the last poll in December 2001 captured almost three-quarters of the seats. The remainder were largely shared between the two principal opposition parties, the Parti Gabonais de Progrès and the Rassemblement National des Bûcherons (National Woodcutters’ Party). A prominent PDG figure and close ally of Bongo, Jean-Francois Ntoutoume-Emane, retained the premiership to which he had first been appointed in 1999. Despite its overwhelming majority, widespread discontent with the social and political situation prompted Bongo to invite the Woodcutters into government. Following heavy lobbying by its leader, Father Paul Mba Abessolle (who is also mayor of the capital, Libreville), the party agreed to join a ‘government of collective management’ – the first time that any party other than the PDG has been represented in government.

A new constitution, adopted in March 1991 and amended in 1997, allows for an executive President and bicameral legislature. The President, elected for a seven-year term, appoints a Council of Ministers headed by a Prime Minister. The legislature comprises the 120-seat Assemblée Nationale and the 91-member Sénate, both of which are directly elected for five-year and six-year terms respectively. In 2003, the constitution was amended once again, allowing the president to serve any number of terms (it has previously been limited to two).