Republic of the Gambia
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Progress, Peace, and Prosperity"
Anthem: "For The Gambia Our Homeland"
Location of The Gambia (dark green) in western Africa
Capital	Banjul 13°28′N 16°36′W / 13.467°N 16.600°W / 13.467; -16.600
Largest metropolitan area	Serekunda
Official languages	English
National languages	List: Mandinka Pulaar Wolof Serer Jola English Balanta Arabic Jola-Fonyi Mandjak Mankanya Noon Dyula Soninke Fula Karon Kassonke Cangin Gambian Sign Language
Ethnic groups (2013 Census)	34.4% Mandinka 24.1% Fula 14.8% Wolof 10.5% Jola 8.2% Soninke 3.1% Serer 1.9% Manjago 1.3% Bambara 0.5% Aku 1.5% other[1]
Religion (2023)[2]	96.4% Islam 3.5% Christianity 0.1% others
Demonym(s)	Gambian
Government	Unitary presidential republic
• President	Adama Barrow
• Vice President	Muhammad B.S. Jallow
• Speaker of the National Assembly	Fabakary Jatta
• Chief Justice	Hassan Bubacar Jallow
Legislature	National Assembly
Independence from the United Kingdom
• from the United Kingdom	18 February 1965
• dissolution of the Senegambia Confederation	30 September 1989
Area
• Total	11,300[3] km2 (4,400 sq mi) (159th)
• Water (%)	11.5
Population
• 2023 estimate	2,468,569[4] (144th)
• Density	176.1/km2 (456.1/sq mi) (74th)
GDP (PPP)	2023 estimate
• Total	$7.502 billion[5] (166th)
• Per capita	$2,837[5] (175th)
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$2.388 billion[5] (185th)
• Per capita	$903[5] (180th)
Gini (2015)	35.9[6] medium
HDI (2022)	0.495[7] low (174th)
Currency	Gambian dalasi (GMD)
Time zone	UTC (GMT)
	Daylight saving time is not observed
Driving side	right
Calling code	+220
ISO 3166 code	GM
Internet TLD	.gm

The Gambia, officially the Republic of the Gambia, is a country in West Africa.^[a][8] Geographically, The Gambia is the smallest country in continental Africa;^[b] it is surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean.^[9] It is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, which flows through the centre of the country and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The national namesake river demarcates the elongated shape of the country, which has an area of 11,300 square kilometres (4,400 sq mi) and a population of 2,468,569 people in 2024.^[4] The capital city is Banjul, which has the most extensive metropolitan area in the country;^[10] the second- and third-largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.^[11]

Arab Muslim merchants traded with native West Africans in The Gambia throughout the 9th and 10th centuries. In 1455, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter The Gambia, although they never established significant trade there. The region was made a part of the British Empire by establishment of a colony in 1765,^[12] and exactly 200 years later, in 1965, The Gambia gained independence under the leadership of Dawda Jawara. Jawara ruled until Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless 1994 coup, with Jammeh ruling until 2017. Adama Barrow became The Gambia's third president in January 2017, after defeating Jammeh in the December 2016 elections.^[13] Jammeh initially accepted the results, but then refused to leave office, triggering a constitutional crisis and military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States that resulted in his removal two days after his term was initially scheduled to end.^[14][15][16]

The Gambia has been a member of the Economic Community of West African States since its conception in 1975 and is a member of the Commonwealth,^[17] with English being the country's sole official language, both legacies of its British colonial past. The Gambia's economy is dominated by farming, fishing, and especially tourism. In 2015, 48.6% of the population lived in poverty.^[18] In rural areas, poverty was even more widespread, at almost 70%.^[18]

Etymology

The name "Gambia" is derived from the Mandinka term Kambra/Kambaa, meaning the Gambia River (or possibly from the sacred Serer Gamba,^[19] a special type of calabash beaten when a Serer elder dies).^[20] Upon independence in 1965, the country used the name The Gambia. Following the proclamation of a republic in 1970, the long-form name of the country became Republic of The Gambia.^[21] The administration of Yahya Jammeh changed the long-form name to Islamic Republic of The Gambia in December 2015.^[22] On 29 January 2017 President Adama Barrow changed the name back to Republic of The Gambia.^[23][24]

The Gambia is one of a small number of countries for which the definite article is commonly used in its English-language name and where the name is not either plural or descriptive (e.g. "the Philippines" or "the United Kingdom").^[25] The article is also officially used by the country's government and by international bodies. The article was originally used because the region was named after "The Gambia ". In 1964, shortly prior to the country's independence, the Prime Minister Dawda Jawara wrote to the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use requesting that the name The Gambia retain the definite article, in part to reduce confusion with Zambia which had also recently become independent.^[26]

History

9th–16th centuries: Muslim and Portuguese influence

Arab traders provided the first written accounts of The Gambia area in the ninth and tenth centuries. During the tenth century, Muslim merchants and scholars established communities in several West African commercial centres. Both groups established trans-Saharan trade routes, leading to a large export trade of local people as slaves,^{[citation needed]} along with gold and ivory, as well as imports of manufactured goods.

By the 11th or 12th century, the rulers of kingdoms such as Takrur (a monarchy centred on the Senegal River just to the north), ancient Ghana and Gao had converted to Islam and had appointed to their courts Muslims who were literate in the Arabic language.^[27] At the beginning of the 14th century, most of what is today called The Gambia was part of the Mali Empire. The Portuguese reached this area by sea in the mid-15th century and began to dominate overseas trade.

English and French administration

In 1588, the claimant to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato, sold exclusive trade rights on the Gambia River to English merchants. Letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I confirmed the grant. In 1618, King James I of England granted a charter to an English company for trade with The Gambia and the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Between 1651 and 1661, some parts of The Gambia – St. Andrew's Island in the Gambia River, including Fort Jakob, and St. Mary Island (modern day Banjul) and Fort Jillifree – came under the rule of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a vassal state of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in what is now Latvia, having been bought by Prince Jacob Kettler.^[28] The colonies were formally ceded to England in 1664.

During the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century, the British Empire and the French Empire struggled continually for political and commercial supremacy in the regions of the Senegal River and the Gambia River. The British Empire occupied The Gambia when an expedition led by Augustus Keppel landed there following the capture of Senegal in 1758. The 1783 Treaty of Versailles gave Great Britain possession of the Gambia River, but the French retained a tiny enclave at Albreda on the river's north bank. This was finally ceded to the United Kingdom in 1856.

Slavery (17th–19th centuries)

As many as three million people may have been taken as slaves from this general region during the three centuries that the transatlantic slave trade operated. It is not known how many people were taken as slaves by intertribal wars before the transatlantic slave trade began. Most of those taken were sold by other Africans to Europeans: some were prisoners of intertribal wars; some were victims sold because of unpaid debts, and many others were simply victims of kidnapping.^[29]

Traders initially sent people to Europe to work as servants until the market for labour expanded in the West Indies and North America in the 18th century. In 1807, the United Kingdom abolished the slave trade throughout its empire. It also tried, unsuccessfully, to end the slave trade in The Gambia. Slave ships intercepted by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron in the Atlantic were also returned to The Gambia, with people who had been slaves released on MacCarthy Island far up The Gambia River where they were expected to establish new lives.^[30] The British established the military post of Bathurst (now Banjul) in 1816.

Gambia Colony and Protectorate (1821–1965)

In the ensuing years, Banjul was at times under the jurisdiction of the British Governor-General in Sierra Leone. In 1888, The Gambia became a separate colony.^[31]

An agreement between Britain and France in 1889 established the boundaries of the colony. In 1891, a joint Anglo-French Boundary Commission faced resistance from local leaders whose lands would be divided.^[32] The Gambia became a British Crown colony called British Gambia, divided for administrative purposes into the colony (city of Banjul and the surrounding area) and the protectorate (remainder of the territory). The Gambia received its own executive and legislative councils in 1901, and it gradually progressed toward self-government. Slavery was abolished in 1906^[33] and following a brief conflict between the British colonial forces and indigenous Gambians, British colonial authority was firmly established.^[34] In 1919, an inter-racial relationship between Travelling Commissioner J. K. McCallum and Wolof woman Fatou Khan scandalized the administration.^[35]

During World War II, some soldiers fought with the Allies of World War II. Though these soldiers fought mostly in Burma, some died closer to home and a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery is in Fajara (close to Banjul). Banjul contained an airstrip for the US Army Air Forces and a port of call for Allied naval convoys.^[36]

After World War II, the pace of constitutional reform increased. Following general elections in 1962, the United Kingdom granted full internal self-governance in the following year.^[36]

Post-independence (1965–present)

Monarchy and republican democracy

The Gambia achieved independence on 18 February 1965, as a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth, with Elizabeth II as Queen of The Gambia, represented by the Governor-General. Shortly thereafter, the national government held a referendum proposing that the country become a republic. This referendum failed to receive the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution, but the results won widespread attention abroad as testimony to The Gambia's observance of secret balloting, honest elections, civil rights, and liberties.^[36]

On 24 April 1970, The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth, following a second referendum. Prime Minister Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara assumed the office of president, an executive post, combining the offices of head of state and head of government which he held since 1962.^[37] President Sir Dawda Jawara was re-elected five times.^[38]

1981 attempted coup

An attempted coup on 29 July 1981 followed a weakening of the economy and allegations of corruption against leading politicians.^[38] The coup attempt occurred while President Jawara was visiting London and was carried out by the leftist National Revolutionary Council, composed of Kukoi Samba Sanyang's Socialist and Revolutionary Labour Party (SRLP) and elements of the Field Force, a paramilitary force which constituted the bulk of the country's armed forces.^[38]

President Jawara requested military aid from Senegal, which deployed 400 troops to The Gambia on 31 July. By 6 August, some 2,700 Senegalese troops had been deployed, defeating the rebel force.^[38] Between 500 and 800 people were killed during the coup and the ensuing violence.^[38] In 1982, in the aftermath of the 1981 attempted coup, Senegal and The Gambia signed a treaty of confederation. The Senegambia Confederation aimed to combine the armed forces of the two states and to unify their economies and currencies. After just seven years, The Gambia permanently withdrew from the confederation in 1989.

1994 Yahya Jammeh coup; return to electoral democracy

In 1994, the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) deposed the Jawara government and banned opposition political activity. Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh, chairman of the AFPRC, became head of state. Jammeh was just 29 years old at the time of the coup. The AFPRC announced a transition plan to return to a democratic civilian government. The Provisional Independent Electoral Commission (PIEC) was established in 1996 to conduct national elections and transformed into the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in 1997 and became responsible for the registration of voters and for the conduct of elections and referendums.

In late 2001 and early 2002, The Gambia completed a full cycle of presidential, legislative, and local elections, which foreign observers deemed free, fair, and transparent.^[39] President Yahya Jammeh, who was elected to continue in the position he had assumed during the coup, took the oath of office again on 21 December 2001. Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) maintained its strong majority in the National Assembly, particularly after the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) boycotted the legislative elections.^[40]

On 2 October 2013, The Gambian interior minister announced that The Gambia would leave the Commonwealth with immediate effect, ending 48 years of membership of the organisation. The Gambian government said it had "decided that The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism".^[41]

On 11 December 2015, President Jammeh declared The Gambia an Islamic republic, calling it a break from the country's colonial past.^[42]

Incumbent President Jammeh faced opposition leaders Adama Barrow from the Independent Coalition of parties^[43] and Mamma Kandeh from The Gambia Democratic Congress party^[44] in the December 2016 presidential elections. The Gambia sentenced main opposition leader and human rights advocate Ousainou Darboe to 3 years in prison in July 2016,^[45] disqualifying him from running in the presidential election.

2016 Jammeh defeat in elections

Following the 1 December 2016 elections, the elections commission declared Adama Barrow the winner of the presidential election.^[46] Jammeh, who had ruled for 22 years, first announced he would step down after losing the 2016 election before declaring the results void and calling for a new vote, sparking a constitutional crisis and leading to an invasion by an ECOWAS coalition.^[47] On 20 January 2017, Jammeh announced that he had agreed to step down and would leave the country.^[15]

Since 2017

In January 2017, President Barrow removed the "Islamic" title from The Gambia's name.^[23] On 14 February 2017, The Gambia began the process of returning to its membership of the Commonwealth and formally presented its application to re-join to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on 22 January 2018.^[48][49] Boris Johnson, who became the first British foreign secretary to visit The Gambia since the country gained independence in 1965,^[50] announced that the British government welcomed The Gambia's return to the Commonwealth.^[50] The Gambia officially rejoined the Commonwealth on 8 February 2018.^[51][52] On 28 February 2018, Jaha Dukureh, a women's rights activist was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in combating female genital mutilation.^[53]

On 4 December 2021, Adama Barrow won re-election in the presidential election.^[54] On 20 December 2022, a supposed coup attempt by the Gambian army was foiled,^[55] with four soldiers arrested. The Gambia Armed Forces have denied that any attempt at a coup was made.^[55]

Geography

The Gambia is a very small and narrow country whose borders mirror the meandering Gambia River. It lies between latitudes 13 and 14°N, and longitudes 13 and 17°W.

The Gambia is less than 50 kilometres (31 miles) wide at its widest point, with a total area of 11,295 km² (4,361 sq mi). About 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles) (11.5%) of The Gambia's area are covered by water. It is the smallest country on the African mainland. In comparative terms, The Gambia has a total area slightly more than that of the island of Jamaica.

Senegal surrounds The Gambia on three sides, with 80 km (50 mi) of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean marking its western extremity.^[56]

The present boundaries were defined in 1889 after an agreement between the United Kingdom and France. During the negotiations between the French and the British in Paris, the French initially gave the British around 320 kilometres (200 mi) of The Gambia River to control. Starting with the placement of boundary markers in 1891, it took nearly 15 years after the Paris meetings to determine the final borders of The Gambia. The resulting series of straight lines and arcs gave the British control of areas about 16 kilometres (10 mi) north and south of The Gambia River.^[57]

The Gambia contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, West Sudanian savanna, and Guinean mangroves.^[58] It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.56/10, ranking it 120th globally out of 172 countries.^[59]

Climate

The Gambia has a tropical savannah climate. A short rainy season normally lasts from June until September, but from then until May, lower temperatures predominate, with less precipitation.^[56] The climate in The Gambia closely resembles that of neighboring Senegal, of Mali, and of the northern part of Guinea.^[60]