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Portuguese arrive in what is now Gabon.
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Local Mpongwe ruler signs away sovereignty to the French.
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Gabon becomes part of French Equatorial Africa.
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Gabon votes to become autonomous republic in the French Community.
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Gabon becomes independent.
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Leon Mba elected president.
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Omar Bongo becomes president after Mba dies.
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Opposition parties legalised, accuse the government of fraud in parliamentary elections held in September and October.
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Parliament adopts a new constitution that formalises the multi-party system.
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Omar Bongo narrowly wins presidential election, the first held under the new multi-party constitution; opposition accuses government of electoral fraud.
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Bongo re-elected to a seven-year term.
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Constitution changed to allow President Bongo to run for president as many times as he wishes.
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Omar Bongo is re-elected as president. Opposition supporters clash with police in the capital.
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Gabon and Equatorial Guinea agree to start talks over disputed islands in potentially oil-rich waters in the Gulf of Guinea.
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President Bongo's party wins parliamentary elections comfortably amid opposition accusations of fraud.
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Government temporarily bans 20 non-governmental organisations for alleged interference in politics.
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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.
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President Omar Bongo dies while undergoing treatment at a clinic in Spain.
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Ali Ben Bongo, son of the late president, is declared winner. Critics say the poll was fixed to ensure a dynastic succession, and opposition supporters clash with security forces.
