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 surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean. 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. The capital city is Banjul, which has the most extensive metropolitan area in the country; the second- and third-largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama. 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, 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. 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. 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, 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. In rural areas, poverty was even more widespread, at almost 70%. (Full article...) Selected article - James Island in 2004 Kunta Kinteh Island, formerly called James Island and St Andrew's Island, is an island in the Gambia River, 30 km (19 mi) from the river mouth and near Juffureh in the Republic of the Gambia. Fort James is located on the island. It is less than 3.2 km (2 miles) from Albreda on the river's northern bank. As an important historical site in the West African slave trade, it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with related sites including a ruined Portuguese chapel and a colonial warehouse in Albreda, the Maurel Frères Building in Juffureh, and Fort Bullen and Six-Gun Battery, which are located at the mouth of the Gambia River. (Full article...) List of selected articles Fula language Jola people Balafon North Bank Division Banjul Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve West Coast Division (Gambia) Gambia River Serekunda Yahya Jammeh Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof Wolof people Senegambian stone circles Senegambia bridge 1994 Gambian coup d'état Senegambia Serer people Mandinka people Jollof rice Serer religion Islam in the Gambia Christianity in The Gambia Hamat Bah Adama Barrow Lower River Division Serer maternal clans The Gambia at the Olympics Senegambia Confederation Fula people April 2000 Gambian student massacre Jaysuma Saidy Ndure Selected image - Traders at a fish market on the Gambian coast Arch 22 in the Gambian capital city of Banjul Life in Serekunda Gunjur is a small coastal town in south-western Gambia. A view of Janjanbureh, Gambia Fish being smoked in Tanji A donkey cart at a beach in The Gambia Front and back view of the Gambian dalasi and coins from 5 bututs to 1 dalasi A Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in the Abuko Nature Reserve in The Gambia Gambian postage stamps from 1953 Image 11Banjul International Airport Banjul International Airport Did you know - ... 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? Good article - This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards. Sir Alexander Grant (1775 – 29 September 1827) was a British Army officer who served as the first Commandant of St Mary's Island from 1816 to 1826. An officer with the newly-founded Royal African Corps, Grant negotiated the purchase of St Mary's Island in the Gambia River from the King of Kombo in 1816, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the first settlement in what would later become the Gambia Colony and Protectorate. During his time as commandant, Grant founded the town of Bathurst on the island, which later became Banjul and the capital city of The Gambia as an independent country. Grant also purchased MacCarthy Island, further down the Gambia River, and founded on it Georgetown - now Janjanbureh - as a settlement for freed slaves. (Full article...) List of Good articles Gambia Regiment Gambia women's national football team Gilbert Thomas Carter The Gambia at the 2000 Summer Olympics The Gambia at the 2008 Summer Olympics The Gambia at the 2012 Summer Olympics The Gambia at the 2016 Summer Olympics The Gambia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Subcategories Category puzzle Select [►] to view subcategories The Gambia Gambia-related lists Buildings and structures in the Gambia Culture of the Gambia Economy of the Gambia Education in the Gambia Environment of the Gambia Geography of the Gambia Government of the Gambia Health in the Gambia History of the Gambia Organisations based in the Gambia Gambian people Politics of the Gambia Society of the Gambia The Gambia stubs Related portals Religions in The Gambia West Africa (All Africa-related portals) WikiProjects You are invited to participate in WikiProject The Gambia, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about The Gambia. WikiProject Gambia WikiProject Africa Selected panorama - Banjul Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia Topics Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wikivoyage Free travel guide Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Discover Wikipedia using portals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals