Gabon profile - timeline
- Published
A chronology of key events:
1470 - Portuguese arrive in what is now Gabon.
1839 - Local Mpongwe ruler signs away sovereignty to the French.
Leon M'ba was Gabon's first post-independence leader
1910 - Gabon becomes part of French Equatorial Africa.
1958 - Gabon votes to become autonomous republic in the French Community.
1960 - Gabon becomes independent.
1961 - Leon Mba elected president.
1964 - French forces restore President Mba after crushing a military coup.
1967 - Albert-Bernard Bongo becomes president after Mr Mba dies.
1973 - President Bongo converts to Islam and assumes the name Omar.
Multi-party elections
1990 - Opposition parties legalised, but accuse the government of fraud in parliamentary elections held in September and October.
1991 - Parliament adopts a new constitution that formalises the multi-party system.
1993 - Omar Bongo narrowly wins presidential election, the first held under the new multi-party constitution; opposition accuses government of electoral fraud.
Constitution amended
2003 July - Constitution changed to allow President Bongo to run for president as many times as he wishes.
2004 February - French oil firm Total signs deal to export Gabonese oil to China.
Omar Bongo - president for 41 years - was succeeded by his son after his death in 2009
2004 September - Agreement signed with Chinese company to exploit around one billion tonnes of iron ore.
2006 February - Gabon and Equatorial Guinea agree to start talks over disputed islands in potentially oil-rich waters in the Gulf of Guinea.
2009 February - French court freezes President Omar Bongo's bank accounts in the country after he was ordered to return a payment made to him to release a jailed French businessman, Rene Cardona.
Presidential succession
2009 June - President Omar Bongo dies while undergoing treatment at a clinic in Spain.
2009 September - Ali Bongo, son of late president, named winner of August election. Critics say poll was fixed to ensure dynastic succession. Opposition supporters clash with security forces.
2010 August - Bongo says France no longer its exclusive partner, as Gabon signs deals with India and Singapore for major infrastructure projects.
Ali Bongo succeeded his father as president in 2009
2012 January - Gabon and Equatorial Guinea co-host Africa Cup of Nations, the continent's biggest football tournament.
2012 - Gabon drops French as its official language in favour of English.
2015 February - Gabon lifts ban on main opposition party National Union (UN)
2015 April - Main opposition leader Andre Mba Obame dies in Cameroon. Tens of thousands turn out to greet his coffin as it returns home.
2016 September - President Ali Bongo is sworn in for a second seven-year term as the Constitutional Court upholds his narrow election victory over his main challenger Jean Ping.
2017 February - A new report says Gabon has lost 80% of its elephant population over the past decade.
2018 October - President Ali Bongo reportedly suffers a stroke and leaves the country for treatment.
2019 January - A group of junior officers briefly attempt a coup against President Bongo, shortly before he returns from medical treatment abroad.