Franceville

Franceville is a city in southeastern Gabon on the eastern bank of the Ogooue River, and the capital of Haut-Ogooue Province. It was founded on June 13, 1880 by the explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza as a settlement for formerly enslaved Africans, first named Francheville before becoming Franceville. The 2013 census recorded 110,568 residents, making it Gabon's third largest commune after Libreville and Port-Gentil. The city hosts the Universite des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku and the CIRMF biomedical research institute, and lies near the Oklo site, the only known natural nuclear fission reactors on Earth.