Gabon

Gabon stamps, available worldwide at Io Collezionista. Gabon is a state of Central Africa and a former French colony; independence came in 1960 with the dissolution of French Equatorial Africa. The name probably comes from the Portuguese word gabao, a particular garment, a coat, whose shape was curiously recalled by the form of the estuary of the river Komo. Explorers of the 15th century opened the first trading contacts with the Mpongwe people, direct descendants of the Bantu peoples who reached the area around the 11th century and displaced the pygmies, a small proportion of whom are nonetheless still present in the country today.