Gambia

The Gambia River, which enters the Atlantic Ocean 115 miles south of Cape Verde, Africa’s western tip, was long a major artery for commerce between the Atlantic and West Africa’s interior. Europeans referred to land along the river as “Gambia” or “the Gambia,” part of “Senegambia,” the region between the Senegal River on the north and the Gambia River on the south. Gambia’s population consists of several ethnic groups: Serer and Jola, early occupants of coastal regions; Mandinka (the largest), and Serahuli (Serrawooli, Soninke), migrants from the east; Fula (Fulbe, Peul), herders from the north, bringing cattle and Islam; Wolof from Senegal, accompanying British traders and officials; and Aku, descendants of liberated slaves from Sierra Leone. Before rapid urban growth in the last half of the 20th century, most Gambians were farmers (millet, sorghum, rice), herders, craftsmen, merchants, or Islamic holy men, residing in small villages. Riverine trade, for centuries involving salt moving upriver, increased after the mid-15th century with the arrival of Portuguese seamen, and again after the mid-17th century with the establishment of English and French outposts. Exports were gold, slaves, and cowhides; imports included cloth, beads, iron bars, metalware, weaponry (swords and cutlasses, firearms and gunpowder), spirits, and paper. Beginning in the early 19th century, after Great Britain established a permanent settlement at Bathurst (now Banjul) near the river’s mouth, closing the river to slave trading, British merchants steadily garnered more Gambia trade. Peanuts dominated exports from the 1840s through the 20th century. In 1893, Britain claimed a narrow strip along two hundred miles of the lower Gambia River, surrounded by French Senegal, as its Gambia Colony and Protectorate. British rule was noteworthy for lack of expenditure and development. Thus, when The Republic of The Gambia (commonly “The Gambia”) gained independence in 1965, it was one of the world’s poorest nations. The Gambia’s government was a democracy known for respecting human rights until a military coup in 1994 brought to power Lieutenant (later Colonel, and then President) Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh. His two decades of increasing authoritarian rule, which saw declining respect for the law, illegal detention, torture, and murder, ended in the surprising 2016 election of coalition candidate Adama Barrow, hopeful of leading the nation toward recovery from two decades of tyranny. Because Senegal surrounds The Gambia, overviews and bibliographies of Senegal can be informative about Gambia, as are works on Senegalese history, culture, religion, language, and the arts. In this article, because they are difficult to access, government and private publications from Gambia are rarely included. For these, see Gamble 1988, cited under Bibliographies, and supplements in Gamble’s Gambia Studies Series, cited under General Overviews.