Gabon, History Of

By 1800 the British were becoming the leading traders in manufactures throughout the Gulf of Guinea. After 1815 the French sought to compete more actively in the commercial sphere and to join Britain in combating the slave trade. To these ends, Captain Édouard Bouët-Willaumez negotiated treaties with the heads of two Mpongwe clans, King Denis (Antchouwe Kowe Rapontchombo)