Gabon has been inhabited for over 400,000 years

The culture with the tribes is one of the things about Gabon you should know. According to UNESCO, people have lived in Gabon since the Palaeolithic period, continuing through the Neolithic and Iron Age periods to the present-day Bantu and Pygmy peoples. Pygmies arrived here prehistorically during the late Stone Age, and Bantu-speaking migrants arrived during the Iron Age. The pygmy people were Gabon's first inhabitants. The oldest reference to pygmy people dates back to 2276 B.C. Pygmy tribes are known for their hunting and gathering culture in the central African rainforest, as well as their short stature: adult members grow to less than 150 cm on average (4 feet 11 inches). They now make up about 0.3 percent of Gabon's population.

Little is known about Gabonese people until the thirteenth century, when Pygmies were largely replaced and absorbed by Bantu tribes migrating into the area. Of the approximately 40 Bantu tribes present in Gabon, the largest are the Fang, Eshira, Mbele and Okande. Only a small percentage of Gabonese people live in towns, as the majority live in coastal areas and villages along the banks of the many rivers, following a more traditional rural way of life.