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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Liberty and labor: the origins of Libreville reconsidered
Authors:Bucher, Jr.
Henry, H.
Year:1979
Periodical:Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Série B: Sciences humaines
Volume:41
Issue:3
Pages:478-496
Language:English
Geographic terms:Gabon
France
Subjects:colonialism
urban history
Abstract:The 'tourist book' version of Libreville's myth of origin is challenged by using Mpongwe oral traditions and French archival data. What-emerges is not the story of a modern African capital city whose origins were a group of slaves freed by France to seek their fortunes in the new 'Village of Liberty'. Indeed, 'Libreville' was a forced settlement created to provide labor for French colonial ambitions at a time of crisis. Furthermore, the colony of 52 slaves in 1849 was on the ancestral land of the Mpongwe people who then numbered several thousand. The settlement was to be 'both French and Christian' - a shining model for the Mpongwe to emulate - but by 1854 the 'Librevillois' had become absorbed and soon after assimilated by the Mpongwe. All that remains of the tourist book version is the name Libreville itself. Notes, charts, maps, French sum.
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