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Updates: 

(2016-10-06) Added 2013 provincial and departmental census results. See source [5] shared by Sorin Cosoveanu.

Sorin Cosoveanu sent a pdf of the Journal Officiel from which I got the 2003 census data shown herein.

Country overview: 

Short name	GABON
ISO code	GA
FIPS code	GB
Language	French (fr)
Time zone	+1
Capital	Libreville

 

Gabon began the 20th century as part of French Kongo (Congo). On 1910-01-15, it became one of four colonies making up Afrique Équatoriale Française (French Equatorial Africa). When the four gained their independence in a single week, Gabon was the last one, on 1960-08-17.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Gabon
2. Dutch: Gabon, Gabonese Republiek (formal)
3. English: Gabonese Republic (formal), Gaboon (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Gabon
5. French: Gabon m, République f Gabonaise (formal)
6. German: Gabun n
7. Italian: Gabon m
8. Norwegian: Gabon, Republikken Gabon (formal)
9. Portuguese: Gabão m, República f Gabonesa (formal)
10. Russian: Габон, Габонская Республика (formal)
11. Spanish: Gabón m, República f Gabonesa (formal)
12. Swedish: Gabon
13. Turkish: Gabon Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Portuguese gabão: hooded cloak, named for the shape of the Gabon estuary

Primary subdivisions: 

Gabon is divided into nine provinces.

Province	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Pop-2013	Pop-2003	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Estuaire	GA.ES	1	GB01	895,689	662,028	20,740	8,008	Libreville
Haut-Ogooué	GA.HO	2	GB02	250,799	228,471	36,547	14,111	Masuku
Moyen-Ogooué	GA.MO	3	GB03	69,287	60,990	18,535	7,156	Lambaréné
Ngounié	GA.NG	4	GB04	100,838	101,415	37,750	14,575	Mouila
Nyanga	GA.NY	5	GB05	52,854	50,297	21,285	8,218	Tchibanga
Ogooué-Ivindo	GA.OI	6	GB06	63,293	64,163	46,075	17,790	Makokou
Ogooué-Lolo	GA.OL	7	GB07	65,771	64,534	25,380	9,799	Koulamoutou
Ogooué-Maritime	GA.OM	8	GB08	157,562	128,774	22,890	8,838	Port-Gentil
Woleu-Ntem	GA.WN	9	GB09	154,986	157,013	38,465	14,851	Oyem
9 provinces				1,811,079	1,517,685	267,667	103,346
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2013: 2013-10-01 census Pop-2003: 2003-12-31 census

Further subdivisions:

See the Departments of Gabon page.

The provinces are further subdivided into 37 départements.

Territorial extent: 

Gabon appears to have a four-corners where Moyen-Ogooué, Ogooué-Ivindo, Ogooué-Lolo, and Ngounié (reading clockwise, starting at the northwest) all meet.

The UN LOCODE page  for Gabon lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

The provinces are predominantly named for rivers which flow through them: the Ivindo, Lolo, N'Gounié, Ntem, Nyanga, Ogooué, and Woleu. Haut, Maritime, and Moyen are French for upper, coastal, and middle, respectively.

Estuaire: Named for the Gabon Estuary.

Change history: 

1. 1915: Capital of Ogooué-Maritime renamed from Mandji to Port-Gentil.
2. ~1975: Gabon had previously been divided into nine prefectures and subdivided into 28 sub-prefectures. The status of the prefectures was now changed to that of provinces, and the sub-prefectures were reorganized into 37 departments.
3. ~1985: Capital of Haut-Ogooué renamed from Franceville to Masuku.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Ngounié: N'Gounié (variant)
2. Ogooué-Maritime: Ogooué Marittimo (Italian)

Population history:

Province	1969-01-06	1993-07-01	2003-12-31
Estuaire	195,000	463,187	662,028
Haut-Ogooué	127,000	104,301	228,471
Moyen-Ogooué	52,000	42,316	60,990
Ngounié	130,000	77,781	101,415
Nyanga	67,000	39,430	50,297
Ogooué-Ivindo	60,000	48,862	64,163
Ogooué-Lolo	52,000	43,915	64,534
Ogooué-Maritime	22,890	97,913	128,774
Woleu-Ntem	148,000	97,271	157,013
Totals	950,007	1,014,976	1,517,685

Sources: 

1. [1] 1969 population figures from Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, Chicago, 1984
2. [2] 2003 population figures from Journal Officiel de la République Gabonaise, Février 2005, p. 11 ff. These data are as corrected by the constitutional court in Decision No. 003/CC, 2005-02-17.
3. [3] Barret, Jacques. Géographie et Cartographie du Gabon : atlas illustré. EDICEF, Paris, 1983
4. [4] 1993 census data from an online document titled "Étude du Milieu Physique et Humain" (Study of the Physical and Human Environment)
5. [5] 2013 Census Results . Results of the 2013 census (retrieved 2016-10-06).