Official Name: | Ndjolé |
Pushpin Map: | Gabon |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 300 |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Gabon |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | ![]() |
Subdivision Name1: | Moyen-Ogooué Province |
Subdivision Type2: | Department |
Subdivision Name2: | Abanga-Bigne Department |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Population As Of: | 2008 |
Population Total: | 6,289 |
Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
Population Blank2 Title: | Religions |
Coordinates: | -0.1833°N 55°W |
Ndjolé is the capital town in the Abanga-Bigne Department in Gabon, lying northeast of Lambaréné on the Ogooué River, the N2 road and the Trans-Gabon Railway. It is known as a base for logging and as a transport hub. Ndjolé is the last city that can be reached by barge traffic traveling up the Ogooué River. Above Ndjolé there are rapids on the river.
In 1883, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza founded the military post of Ndjolé, a strategic point located on the Ogooué River.
The river being difficult to navigate upstream, it is here that foresters loaded their wood to bring it down to Port-Gentil.
The N'djolé prison, built in 1898 on an island on the Ogooué, opposite Ndjolé, was part of a French policy to build detention centres in the French overseas departments and territories then in the colonies. It was here that Samory Touré, founder and leader of the short-lived Wassoulou Empire, died in captivity. Alongside Samory Touré, Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacké also experienced exile and forced labour there.