Timeline: Gabon

A chronology of key events:

1470 - Portuguese arrive in what is now Gabon.

1839 - Local Mpongwe ruler signs away sovereignty to the French.

1910 - Gabon becomes part of French Equatorial Africa.

Libreville: Capital is an industrial port city Founded in 1849 by freed slaves Built on a succession of hills Population: 420,000

1958 - Gabon votes to become autonomous republic in the French Community.

1960 - Gabon becomes independent.

1961 - Leon Mba elected president.

1964 - French forces restore Mba's presidency after crushing military coup.

1967 - Bongo becomes president after Mba dies.

1973 - Bongo converts to Islam and assumes the first name of Omar.

Multi-party elections

1990 - Opposition parties legalised, accuse the government of fraud in parliamentary elections held in September and October.

1991 - Parliament adopts a new constitution which formalises the multi-party system.

Despite oil wealth, poverty and unemployment are widespread

1993 - Omar Bongo narrowly wins presidential election, the first held under the new multi-party constitution; opposition accuses government of electoral fraud.

1996 - Governing Gabonese Democratic Party wins significant majority in parliamentary elections.

1998 - Bongo re-elected to a seven-year term.

2002 January - Ruling Gabonese Democratic Party retains a convincing majority in parliamentary elections.

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.

2004 September - Agreement signed with Chinese company to exploit around one billion tonnes of iron ore.

2005 November - Omar Bongo is re-elected as president. Opposition supporters clash with police in the capital.

2006 February - Gabon and Equatorial Guinea agree to start talks over disputed islands in potentially oil-rich waters in the Gulf of Guinea.

2006 December - President Bongo's party wins parliamentary elections comfortably amid opposition accusations of fraud.

2008 January - Government temporarily bans 20 non-governmental organisations for alleged interference in politics.

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.

2009 June - President Omar Bongo dies while undergoing treatment at a clinic in Spain.