Lambaréné
Encyclopedia
Lambaréné is the capital of the political district Moyen-Ogooué
in Gabon
. The city counts 24,000 inhabitants and is located 75 kilometres south of the equator
.
Lambaréné is based in the Central African Rainforest at the river Ogooué
. This river divides the city into 3 districts: Rive Gauche, Ile Lambaréné and Rive Droite. The Albert Schweitzer Hospital
and the districts Adouma und Abongo are located on Rive Droite. The districts Atongowanga, Sahoty, Dakar, Grand Village, Château, Lalala and Bordamur build the Ile Lambaréné. The majority of the people in Lambaréné live in the district Isaac located on Rive Gauche. This district hosts the Lambaréné Airport.
Today Lambaréné is inhabited mainly by Bantu ethnic groups such as the Fang, Bapounou
, Eshira, and Myéné; these displaced the Pygmies to the east and north of Gabon. The main economy is the fishery. A new port is under construction.
winner Albert Schweitzer
(1875–1965) founded his world-renowned Hospital in Lambaréné in 1913. Today, the Albert Schweitzer Hospital comprises departments of Internal Medicine
, Surgery
, Paediatrics, a maternity clinic, a dentistry clinic and since 1981 a Medical Research Unit, which focuses on malaria
research.
Moyen-Ogooué
Moyen-Ogooué is one of Gabon's nine provinces. It covers an area of 18,535 km². The provincial capital is Lambaréné.Alone among the provinces of Gabon, Moyen-Ogooué has neither seacoast nor a foreign border...
in Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
. The city counts 24,000 inhabitants and is located 75 kilometres south of the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
.
Lambaréné is based in the Central African Rainforest at the river Ogooué
Ogooué River
The Ogooué , some 1,200 km long, is the principal river of Gabon in west central Africa. Its watershed drains nearly the entire country of Gabon, with some tributaries reaching into the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea....
. This river divides the city into 3 districts: Rive Gauche, Ile Lambaréné and Rive Droite. The Albert Schweitzer Hospital
Albert Schweitzer Hospital
The Medical Research Unit of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital was established in Lambaréné, Gabon, to study major causes of disease burden in the local population...
and the districts Adouma und Abongo are located on Rive Droite. The districts Atongowanga, Sahoty, Dakar, Grand Village, Château, Lalala and Bordamur build the Ile Lambaréné. The majority of the people in Lambaréné live in the district Isaac located on Rive Gauche. This district hosts the Lambaréné Airport.
Today Lambaréné is inhabited mainly by Bantu ethnic groups such as the Fang, Bapounou
Bapounou
The Punu, or Bapunu , are one of the four major peoples of Gabon, inhabiting interior mountain and grassland areas in the southwest of the country, around the upper N'Gounié and Nyanga Rivers. Bapunu also live in the Divenie, Kibangou, and Mossendjo districts of the Republic of the Congo...
, Eshira, and Myéné; these displaced the Pygmies to the east and north of Gabon. The main economy is the fishery. A new port is under construction.
Schweitzer
The Franco-German Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
winner Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
(1875–1965) founded his world-renowned Hospital in Lambaréné in 1913. Today, the Albert Schweitzer Hospital comprises departments of Internal Medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
, Surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, Paediatrics, a maternity clinic, a dentistry clinic and since 1981 a Medical Research Unit, which focuses on malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
research.
Climate
The average temperature at Lambaréné is 27°C. The rainy season starts in October and ends in June (including a short dry season in December/January). The long dry season is from July to September.Notable residents
- Pierre Savorgnan de BrazzaPierre Savorgnan de BrazzaPietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà, best known as Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza , was a Franco-Italian explorer, born in Italy and later naturalized Frenchman...
, Italo-French explorer and later colonial governor of French Equatorial Africa, resided at Lambaréné on several occasions. - Rose Francine RogombéRose Francine RogombéRose Francine Rogombé is a Gabonese politician who was Acting President of Gabon from June 2009 to October 2009, following the death of long-time President Omar Bongo. She constitutionally succeeded Bongo due to her role as President of the Senate, a post to which she was elected in February 2009...
, Interim President following the death of Omar BongoOmar BongoEl Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba , born as Albert-Bernard Bongo, was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009....
, was born in Lambaréné. - André Raponda WalkerAndré Raponda WalkerAndré Raponda Walker was a Gabonese author, ethnographer, Catholic priest, and missionary. Walker wrote extensively about Gabonese language and culture.-Biography:...
, the anthropologist and priest, worked nearby.