Portal:The Gambia

The Gambia Portal

The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the smallest country in continental Africa; it is bounded by Senegal on all sides except for the western part, which is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.

Its territory is on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, which flows through the center of the country and empties into the Atlantic. 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 2,422,712 people at the 1 May 2024 Census which is a 30.45% population increase from 2013. The capital city is the island Banjul, formerly called Bathurst during the colonial era, which is the most extensive metropolitan area in the country. The second- and third-largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama. Other significant cities are Kanifing and Farafenni in the north bank, Basse in Upper River Region, and Soma in lower river region.

Arab Muslim merchants traded with West Africans in the Gambia, under an arrangement known as the trans-Saharan trade, using a barter exchange system. Throughout the 9th and 10th centuries, Islam was introduced by the Arab traders to Western Sudan. In 1455, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter the Gambia, although they never established significant trade there. The British Empire established a colony in 1765. In 1965, 200 years later, the Gambia gained independence under the leadership of Dawda Jawara. Jawara remained the president, winning several elections, until he was overthrown by Yahya Jammeh in a bloodless coup on 22 July 1994. (Full article...)

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Wassu stone circles

The Senegambian stone circles (French: Cercles mégalithiques de Sénégambie), or the Wassu stone circles, are groups of megalithic stone circles located in the Gambia north of Janjanbureh and in central Senegal. Spread across a region 30,000 km² (12,000 sq mi), they are sometimes divided into the Wassu (Gambian) and Sine-Saloum (Senegalese) circles, but this is purely a national division. Containing over 1,000 stone circles and tumuli (1,145 sites are recorded by a 1982 study) spread across an area 350 km (220 mi) long and 100 km (62 mi) wide, the Senegambian stone circles are the largest concentration of stone circles seen anywhere in the world, and they are an extensive sacred landscape that was used for more than 1,500 years. The sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006. (Full article...)

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Image 1A view of Janjanbureh, Gambia
Image 2A donkey cart at a beach in The Gambia
Image 3A Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in the Abuko Nature Reserve in The Gambia
Image 4Gunjur is a small coastal town in south-western Gambia.
Image 5Life in Serekunda
Image 6Arch 22 in the Gambian capital city of Banjul
Image 7Banjul International Airport
Image 8Front and back view of the Gambian dalasi and coins from 5 bututs to 1 dalasi
Image 9Gambian postage stamps from 1953
Image 10Traders at a fish market on the Gambian coast
Image 11Fish being smoked in Tanji

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... that Paschal Eze resigned as editor-in-chief of The Daily Observer, a newspaper in The Gambia, after being pressured by management not to publish stories about a certain politician?

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Gambia took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, from 8 to 24 August 2008. It was Gambia's seventh appearance in the summer Olympics since its debut in 1984. The Gambia team included three athletes; runners Suwaibou Sanneh and Fatou Tiyana as well as boxer Badou Jack. Jack, a middleweight at his first Olympics, was selected as flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. None of the Gambia athletes progressed further than the qualifying heats. (Full article...)