Ogooué-Maritime

The Ogooué-Maritime is one of the nine provinces of Gabon. Its chief town is Port-Gentil, the economic capital of the country.

History

The history of the Ogooué-Maritime is closely related to that of the people of the south-west of the Gabon. The coasts of the south-west of Gabon are known Western navigators and in particular Portuguese since the end of XVe century. For them, according to the old charts, this territory was divided into two kingdoms: the Cama and the Loango. The first extended to north between the courses Lopez and Holy-Catherine and was populated of Cama which practiced the draft and maintained the business intercourse with the slave traders and the flibustiers in particular with the mouth of Rio Fernan Vaz. The second in the south, made following that of Cama since the course Holy-Catherine until the Congo, it included the provinces of Gobbi, Setté and Mayumba. He organized himself around the lagoons Ngové (Iguéla), Setté-Cama (Ndogo), Mbanio and was inhabited by Lumbou. The trade was done by ethnic relay between the Cape Lopez and Mayumba. One exported the ivory, the red wood of Gobbi and Setté. It is starting from the beginning of the XVII that the draft négrière developed on Ogooué and Rembo Nkomi. Until the medium of XIXe, the coastal people, between the Cape Lopez and Mayumba are badly known. The only harbor accessible to the navigators was Loango, located in the nearest split at the south to Mayumba. In 1873-76, a German forwarding goes up the course of Nyanga until Tchibanga and described for the first time Lumbou and Bayaka. From 1886, the catholic missions are installed on this territory: Loango (1884), Holy-Anne of Fernan Vaz (1887) and Setté-Cama (1890). TheMaritime one covers a surface of 22.890 km. Port-GentilI is the chief town of this partly wedged province, whose certain localities are accessible only by air and maritime. Currently, its resources are related on research and the oil and forest exploitation. With several activities, tourism tends to develop: sporting fishing at sea, rivers and lagoons, safari vision, ecotourism. The reserves of fauna of Small Loango, the plain Ouanga and the three fields Iguéla, Ngové-Ndogo and Setté-Cama of a surface of 700.000 ha, constitute the " protected areas of Gamba". The forest field and savanna are made of vegetable mediums diversified to the extreme. The interior of Ogooué-Maritime, little populated and difficult of access, has a rich fauna of many species: chimpanzees, hippopotamuses, céphalophes, antelopes, potamochères, pangolins, crocodiles, monitors, manatees, leatherly turtles. The lagoons are for the birds (tisserins, ibis tantalums, martins-fishermen, knights, storks, pelicans, eagles…) privileged sites which they unceasingly fly over in search of food.

Source

Statoids.com - Gabon
Gabon Business - Tourism

Random links: