The Gambia

The name "Gambia" is derived from the Mandinka term Kambra/Kambaa, meaning the Gambia River. (It may be derived from the sacred Serer gamba, a drum made from a calabash beaten when a Serer elder dies.) Portuguese explorers, who reached the region in the 15th century, adopted a variation of this local name, which was later anglicised to Gambia during British colonial rule.

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 the Republic of The Gambia.

The Gambia is one of only two countries for which the definite article "the" is officially used in its short form English-language name, the other being The Bahamas. In 1964, shortly prior to the country's independence, 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.

The administration of Yahya Jammeh changed the long-form name to Islamic Republic of the Gambia in December 2015. On 29 January 2017 newly elected President Adama Barrow changed the name back to Republic of The Gambia.

=== Muslim and Portuguese influence (9th–16th centuries) ===

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. They carried out a large export trade of local people taken captive in raids and sold as slaves. Gold and ivory were also exported, and the trade routes were used to import manufactured goods to these areas.

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. They had appointed to their courts Muslims who were literate in the Arabic language. 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.

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. 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.

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. The British established the military post of Bathurst (now Banjul) in 1816.

In the ensuing years, Bathurst (now Banjul) was at times under the jurisdiction of the British Governor-General in Sierra Leone. In 1888, The Gambia became a separate colony.

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. 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 and following a brief conflict between the British colonial forces and indigenous Gambians, British colonial authority was firmly established. In 1919, a romantic relationship between Travelling Commissioner J. K. McCallum and Wolof woman Fatou Khan scandalised the administration.

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.

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.

==== Independence and formation of the republic ====

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.

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. President Sir Dawda Jawara was re-elected five times.

An attempted coup on 29 July 1981 followed a weakening of the economy and allegations of corruption against leading politicians. The coup attempt occurred while President Jawara was attending the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in London and was carried out by a rogue group of leftists calling themselves the 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.

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. Between 500 and 800 people were killed during the coup and the ensuing violence.

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. The Gambia permanently withdrew from the confederation in 1989.

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 December 1995 to conduct national elections and it supervised a referendum on a revised Constitution, the elections for president and the National Assembly by early January 1997. In 1997 the Independent Electoral Commission – IEC- The Gambia was established to replace the PIEC, responsible for the registration of voters and for the conduct of elections and referendums.

The IEC organised the next 5-year elections for late 2001 and early 2002, and The Gambia completed a full cycle of presidential, legislative, and local elections, which foreign observers deemed free, fair, and transparent. 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.

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".

On 11 December 2015, President Jammeh (without any legal authority) unilaterally declared The Gambia an Islamic Republic, calling it a break from the country's colonial past, although the constitution remained secular.

The months leading up to the 2016 presidential election were tense. The youth leader of the main opposition UDP, Solo Sandeng, died in detention at the notorious National Intelligence Agency. Ousainou Darboe, the leader of the UDP, and many senior members of his party were sent to jail for demanding the release of Solo Sandeng dead or alive. President Jammeh faced opposition leaders Adama Barrow from the Independent Coalition of parties and Mamma Kandeh from The Gambia Democratic Congress party. The high court of the Gambia sentenced main opposition leader and human rights advocate Ousainou Darboe to 3 years in prison in July 2016, disqualifying him from running in the presidential election. This gave Adama Barrow to contest under the UDP ticket.

Following the 1 December 2016 elections, the elections commission declared Adama Barrow the winner. 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. On 20 January 2017, Jammeh announced that he had agreed to step down and would leave the country.

In January 2017, President Barrow removed the "Islamic" title from The Gambia's name. 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. Boris Johnson, who became the first British foreign secretary to visit The Gambia since the country gained independence in 1965, announced that the British government welcomed The Gambia's return to the Commonwealth. The Gambia officially rejoined the Commonwealth on 8 February 2018. 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.

On 4 December 2021, Adama Barrow won re-election in the presidential election. On 20 December 2022, a supposed coup attempt by the Gambian army was foiled, with four soldiers arrested. The Gambian Armed Forces have denied that any attempt at a coup was made. Barrow's use of foreign troops for his security and for protection of some infrastructure has hurt his popularity.

The Gambia is a 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.

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.

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

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. The climate in The Gambia closely resembles that of neighboring Senegal, Mali, and the northern part of Guinea.

Biodiversity in The Gambia is extremely rich given the country's size, and considered to be of global significance.

Plant assemblages consist of mangrove swamp along the river, wetland in lowland areas through to savanna woodland and a plateau dominated by sandhills in the upland region. There is a rich array of birdlife, with over 500 resident species. The national animal is the spotted hyena. Pygmy hippopotamuses and crocodiles may be found in the river system, while common African species such as chimpanzees, baboons, antelopes, and warthogs are also present. 30 amphibian and 74 reptile species have been recorded including tortoises, snakes and various lizards; while over 500 fish species can be found in the marine and aquatic environments together with marine mammals including dolphins, whales and the rare West African manatee.

The Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom on 18 February 1965. From 1965 to 1994, the country was ostensibly a multi-party liberal democracy. It was ruled by Sir Dawda Jawara and his People's Progressive Party (PPP). However, the country never experienced political turnover during this period and its commitment to succession by the ballot box was never tested. In 1994, a military coup propelled a commission of military officers to power, known as the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC). After two years of direct rule, a new constitution was written and in 1996, the leader of the AFPRC, Yahya Jammeh, was elected as president. He ruled in an authoritarian style until the 2016 election, which was won by Adama Barrow, backed by a coalition of opposition parties.

According to the 2023 V-Dem Democracy Indices, the Gambia is ranked 68th of 179 nations worldwide and the 11th of 56 in Africa.

During the Jawara era, there were initially four political parties, the PPP, the United Party (UP), the Democratic Party (DP), and I.M. Garba-Jahumpa's Muslim Congress Party (MCP). The 1960 constitution had established a House of Representatives, and in the 1960 election no party won a majority of seats. However, in 1961, the British Governor chose UP leader Pierre Sarr N'Jie to serve as the country's first head of government, in the form of a Chief Minister. This was an unpopular decision, and the 1962 election was notable as parties were able to appeal to ethnic and religious differences across the Gambia. The PPP won a majority, and formed a coalition with the Democratic Congress Alliance (DCA; a merger of the DP and MCP). They invited the UP to the coalition in 1963, but it left in 1965.

The UP was seen as the main opposition party, but it lost power from 1965 to 1970. In 1975, the National Convention Party (NCP) was formed by Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, and became the new main opposition party to the PPP's dominance. Both the PPP and NCP were ideologically similar, so in the 1980s a new opposition party emerged, in the form of the radical socialist People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS). However, between the 1966 and 1992 elections, the PPP was "overwhelmingly dominant", winning between 55% and 70% of the vote in each election and a large majority of seats continually.

In principle, competitive politics existed during the Jawara era, however, it was stated that there was in reality a "one-party monopoly of state power centred around the dominant personality of Sir Dawda Jawara". Civil society was limited post-independence, and opposition parties were weak and at the risk of being declared subversive. The opposition did not have equal access to resources, as the business class refused to finance them. The government had control over when they could make public announcements and press briefings, and there were also allegations of vote-buying and improprieties in the preparation of the electoral register. A 1991 court challenge by the PDOIS against irregularities on the electoral register in Banjul was dismissed on a technicality.

In July 1994, a bloodless military coup d'état brought an end to the Jawara era. The Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC), led by Yahya Jammeh, ruled dictatorially for two years. The council suspended the constitution, banned all political parties, and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the populace. A transition back to democracy occurred in 1996, and a new constitution was written, though the process was manipulated to benefit Jammeh. In a 1996 referendum, 70% of voters approved the constitution, and in December 1996, Jammeh was elected as president. All but PDOIS of the pre-coup parties were banned, and former ministers were barred from public office.

During Jammeh's rule, the opposition was again fragmented. An example was the infighting between members of the National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) that was formed in 2005. Jammeh used the police forces to harass opposition members and parties. Jammeh was also accused of human rights abuses, especially towards human rights activists, civil society organisations, political opponents, and the media. They faced exile, harassment, arbitrary imprisonment, murder, and forced disappearance. Particular examples include the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004, a student massacre at a protest in 2000, public threats to kill human rights defenders in 2009, and public threats towards homosexuals in 2013. Furthermore, Jammeh made threats to the religious freedom of non-Muslims, used 'mercenary judges' to weaken the judiciary, and faced numerous accusations of election rigging.

In the December 2016 presidential election, Jammeh was beaten by Adama Barrow, who was backed by a coalition of opposition parties. Jammeh's initial agreement to step down followed by a change of mind induced a constitutional crisis that culminated in a military intervention by ECOWAS forces in January 2017. Barrow pledged to serve at the head of a three-year transitional government. The Nigerian Centre for Democracy and Development describe the challenges facing Barrow as needing to restore "citizen's trust and confidence in the public sector". They describe a "fragile peace" with tensions in rural areas between farmers and the larger communities. They also reported on tensions between ethnic groups developing. An example is that in February 2017, 51 supporters of Jammeh were arrested for harassing supporters of Barrow. Although his election was initially met with enthusiasm, the Centre notes that this has been dampened by Barrow's initial constitutional faux pas with his vice president, the challenge of inclusion, and high expectations post-Jammeh.

On 5 December 2021, Incumbent President Adama Barrow was declared the winner of The Gambia's presidential election by the electoral commission. The 4 December 2021 election, the first since former dictator Yahya Jammeh fled into exile, was seen as crucial for the young democracy.

The Gambia has had a number of constitutions in its history. The two most significant are the 1970 constitution, which established The Gambia as a presidential republic, and the 1996 constitution, which served as a basis for Jammeh's rule and was kept following Barrow's victory in 2016. Jammeh manipulated the 1996 constitutional reform process to benefit himself. No reference was made to term limits, indicating Jammeh's preference to stay in power for an extended period of time. According to the 1996 constitution, the President is the head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Jammeh and Barrow have also both taken on the role of Minister of Defence.

The president appoints the vice president and cabinet of ministers and also chairs the cabinet. The office of Prime Minister was abolished in 1970. Total executive power is vested in the president. He can also appoint five members of the National Assembly, the judges of the superior courts, regional governors, and district chiefs. In terms of the civil service, he can appoint the Public Service Commission, the ombudsman, and the Independent Electoral Commission. The president is directly elected for five-year terms based on a simple majority of votes. There are no term limits. The Constitution is under review as of 2018 and a two-term limit and other changes required to enhance the governance structures are expected.

The Gambia followed a formal policy of non-alignment throughout most of former President Jawara's tenure. It maintained close relations with the United Kingdom and with Senegal and other African countries. The July 1994 coup strained The Gambia's relationship with Western powers, particularly the United States, which until 2002 suspended most non-humanitarian assistance in accordance with Section 508 of the Foreign Assistance Act. After 1995, President Jammeh established diplomatic relations with several additional countries, including Libya (suspended in 2010), and Cuba. The People's Republic of China cut ties with The Gambia in 1995 – after the latter established diplomatic links with Taiwan – and re-established them in 2016.

As a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), The Gambia has played an active role in that organisation's efforts to resolve the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and contributed troops to the community's ceasefire monitoring group (ECOMOG) in 1990 and (ECOMIL) in 2003. In November 2019, The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar in The Hague, accusing its military of genocide against Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya community.

Under Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia was also backing up rebels of MFDC in Casamance in southern Senegal. The subsequent worsening of the human rights situation placed increasing strains on US–Gambian relations.

The Gambia withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations on 3 October 2013, with Jammeh's government stating 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". Under the Barrow government, The Gambia began the process of returning to its status as a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations with the support of the British government, formally presenting its application to re-join the Commonwealth to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on 22 January 2018, returning to its status as a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations on 8 February 2018.

Commonwealth of Nations

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

United Nations

African Union

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation