Term Papers on Gabon- An Example For All Of Africa

Term Paper Title	Gabon- An Example For All Of Africa
# of Words	1179
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.72

Gabon- An example for all of Africa

Gabon:An Example For All of Africa


     The country of Gabon is praised as being one of the most successful countries in Africa.
Gabon is a very diverse country in many ways.  There are a variety of different tribes that call
Gabon home.  Also, the land differs through out the county.
     Gabon is one of the smaller countries of Africa with the area of 267,670 square miles.
Comparatively, this is the almost the same size as Colorado.  The terrain of this tiny country
consists of narrow coastal plains; a hilly interior; and Savannah in the east and south.  Much of
the interior is rain forests and is not arable.  Only 1% of the land is arable  The remaining land is
either meadows, permanent crops, or other land forms.  (The World Fact Book 1995)
     Gabon is one of the most thinly populated countries in Africa.  It has a population of
approximately 1,155,000 (July 1995 est.)  There are 11 people per square mile.  The majority
of the Gabonese are of ages 15-64 years.  The average life expectancy is 55.14 years.  Women
live to be around 58, while men are usually around 52 when they die.  This is why only 5% of
the population is older than 65.  The infant mortality is lower than many other African countries,
92.4 per 1,000 live births.  (The World Fact Book 1995)
     As in most African countries, there are many Bantu tribes make up the ethnicity of the
country.  There are four major tribal groups.  The Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, and the Bateke.
(The World Fact Book)
     The largest of these tribes is the Fang.  They live mainly in the northern area of Gabon.
Many years ago they were considered the fiercest warriors of the area.  Now, they dominate
many of the countries governmental positions.  (World Book Encyclopedia page  )
     One of the earlier tribes that is since gone was the Omyene.  They lived along the coast.
The Omyene are important because they were the first of the natives to meet the European
traders and missionaries.  They played an important role of keeping peace with the Europeans.
(World Book Encyclopedia, 1992 page 2)
     Along with there being so many different ethnic backgrounds, there are many religions as
well.  The major religion is Christian,75 % of the population.  About 1% of the population is
Muslim.  The remaining 24% are animists.  These include all of the tribal practices.  (The World
Fact Book)
     One of the reasons why Gabon has been so successful is that it has a stable government.
It is a republic and has multiple political parties.  The capitol, Libreville ( aprox. 275,000
people), is where all of governmental issues are taken care of.  (1996 World Almanac pages
764-65)
This is where the National assembly, Gabon's legislative branch, meets.   Also this is where the
president lives.  President Omar Bongo has been president for 29 years.  He has been getting
reelected every 7 years since 1967.   ( Clement's Encyclopedia of World Government 1996,
page 146)
     As president, Mr. Bongo has many different jobs.  He serves not only as chief
administrator but also as Head of the State.  In order to help him to govern the country well he
gets to choose a council of ministers.  Also out of the 120 representatives in the National
Assembly, 9 are appointed by the president.  The others are voted in by the people. The
president can also adjourn the Assembly for up to 18 months in order to rule alone.  ( World
Book Encyclopedia 1992 page 2)
     Gabon has a peaceful history.  They were first discovered by the Portuguese in the mid
15th century.  The Portuguese didn't settle though.  But during the 19th century France started
gaining interest in Gabon.  The fir...

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