history of The Gambia

Assorted References

• major treatment ( in Gambia, The: History )

  History

• British colonial rule ( in western Africa, history of: British territories )

  Each of the four British colonies must necessarily be treated as an independent unit, as each was so treated in British policy. The Gambia was merely a strip of land, averaging only seven miles in width, on either side of 292 miles of navigable waterway penetrating into what otherwise was French Senegal. Even in the 1950s its population did not exceed 300,000, and the possibilities for any sort...

  in western Africa, history of: Anglophone countries )

  The Gambia achieved independence in 1965. The country later formed the confederation of Senegambia with Senegal in 1982, but the confederation disbanded in 1989. The Gambian government faced serious economic problems in the 1980s and instituted a series of austerity measures. A coup in 1994 led to a period of military rule, but civilian rule was restored by 1997. The Gambia typically has a...

• British West Africa ( in British West Africa )

  ...of the Gambia River. Both colonies served as bases for the British effort to block the slave trade along the coast. Later in the century British rule spread to the interior of Sierra Leone and the Gambia. Both interiors became protectorates governed through indigenous rulers.

• role of Jawara ( in Jawara, Sir Dawda Kairaba )
• Senegambia confederation ( in Senegambia )

  limited confederation (1982–89) of the sovereign countries of Senegal and The Gambia. The two countries reached a merger agreement in November 1981, and the Senegambia confederation came into being three months later. The terms of the agreement required Senegal and The Gambia to take the following steps toward union: integrate their military and security forces; form an economic and...