The Gambia

Long before any European arrived, the River Gambia linked the Atlantic to the gold fields of the upper Niger. Mandinka settlers from the Mali empire founded small kingdoms along both banks from the 13th century, while Wolof, Fula, Jola and Serahule communities lived alongside them.

The Senegambian stone circles at Wassu and Kerbatch, raised between roughly the 3rd century BCE and the 16th century CE, are the most visible sign of the older population: more than a thousand circles of laterite pillars mark burial sites along the river.

The kora, the 21-string harp of the Mandinka griots, belongs to this world; griots kept genealogies and epics, including the Sundiata epic of Mali's founder, and still perform them.

Portuguese traders reached the river in the 1450s. In 1651 the Duchy of Courland — in today's Latvia — built a fort on an island near the mouth; the British took it in 1661 and renamed it James Island. It became a hub of the slave trade and is now Kunta Kinteh Island, named after the ancestor in Alex Haley's Roots.

After Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, it founded Bathurst (now Banjul) on St Mary's Island in 1816 to police the river. Rivalry with France around Senegal ended in the 1889 agreement that fixed the border as a strip roughly ten kilometres either side of the river.

Colonial Gambia grew groundnuts for export and changed little; it was one of the poorest British territories when it became independent.

Independence came in 1965 under Dawda Jawara, who kept a multiparty system for almost thirty years. A failed coup in 1981 was put down with Senegalese troops, leading to the short-lived Senegambia confederation (1982–89).

In 1994 Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh seized power. His 22-year rule was marked by disappearances, torture and eccentric claims, including a herbal cure for AIDS. In December 2016 he lost the election to Adama Barrow, first accepted the result, then rejected it; ECOWAS troops entered in January 2017 and Jammeh went into exile in Equatorial Guinea.

A truth commission (TRRC) documented abuses under Jammeh, and in 2024 ECOWAS approved a special court to try crimes of that era. The next presidential election is due in December 2026 (check).

Mandinka are the largest group, followed by Fula, Wolof, Jola and Serahule; intermarriage is common and most people speak several languages. English is the official language, which sets The Gambia apart from its French-speaking neighbour.

About 95% of Gambians are Muslim, with Sufi orders important as in Senegal; Christians, many of them Aku (Krio) descendants of freed slaves in Banjul, and Jola communities make up most of the rest. Crocodile pools such as Kachikally in Bakau and Folonko in Kartong are fertility sites that predate Islam.

Joking relationships (kal) between certain ethnic groups and surnames allow insults that defuse tension, and are a real part of daily manners.

The country is almost entirely flat and follows the river: salt water pushes more than 200 km inland in the dry season, so the lower river is lined with mangroves and the upper river with freshwater forest and rice fields.

Over 570 bird species have been recorded, which makes The Gambia a major birding destination just six hours from Europe. The River Gambia National Park protects islands where a chimpanzee rehabilitation project has run since 1979; hippos live in the middle river.

Climate is Sahelian-tropical: a long dry season from November to June with the Harmattan early in the year, and rains from July to October.

Domoda, a groundnut stew, and benachin, the one-pot rice that neighbours call jollof, are the staples. Grilled fish from Tanji and Bakau, oysters from the mangroves and afra grills make up the evening food.

The kora and the balafon remain central to celebrations; Gambian griot families such as the Suso and Kouyaté lines have taught players worldwide. Reggae and Afrobeats dominate the resort bars.

Tourism and remittances matter hugely; many young Gambians have attempted the 'back way' migration through the Sahara or by boat to the Canaries.