<p>It is very important to understand the contributions of fabrics and compositions to the mechanical characteristics of geomaterials, and this is still limited for lateritic soils. In this paper, fabrics, compositions and geomechanical behaviour of laterites are presented to further deepen the knowledge and understanding that is still scanty compared to other materials. Numerous tests on index, microstructure, chemical, mineralogical and oedometer were carried out, and the results analysed and presented using fundamental framework. Lateritic soils are well-graded in nature and resulted from non-sorting of parent materials during formation processes. The fines content is related to the plasticity of the specimens. Fabrics of intact lateritic soils are characterized by clusters resulting from cementing effect of sesquioxide content with variable pores, isotropic, and heterogeneous. Reconstituted specimens fabric is characterized by clusters with pores, isotropic and homogeneous. The geochemical compositions are mainly silica and sesquioxide content, and the leaching of silica during the process of formation of specimen is conspicuous (high proportions of alumina and hematite). The mineralogical composition is predominantly kaolinite, quartz and feldspars. Laterites have convergent behaviour which could be attributed to homogeneous, isotropic and non-robust fabric. The compressibility could be linked to sesquioxide content, quartz content and the decomposition processes. Compressibility is least in specimens with high fines content. The in situ specific volume is a function of the nature of the specimens, and the yield stress depends on the depositional processes. The effect of structure is observed, and the magnitude could be likened to related geomaterials. The effect of structure could be linked to the robust fabric from non-frictional inter-particle forces and particle characteristics of size, shape and distributions. </p>