Portal:The Gambia

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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 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 centre 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 2,769,075 people in 2024 which is a 2.30% population increase from 2013. 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 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 1994 coup. (Full article...)

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Serer cultural vigil in Senegal.

The Serer people (Serer proper: Seereer or Sereer) are a West African ethnoreligious group. They are the third-largest ethnic group in Senegal, making up 15% of the Senegalese population. They also reside in northern Gambia and southern Mauritania.

The Serer people originated in the Senegal River valley, at the border of present-day Senegal and Mauritania, and moved south in the 11th and 12th century. They migrated again in the 15th and 16th centuries as their villages were invaded and they were subjected to religious pressures from Islamic forces. They have had a sedentary settled culture and have been known for their farming expertise and transhumant stock-raising. (Full article...)

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

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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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The Gambia sent a delegation to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia from 15 September to 1 October 2000. This was the African nation's fifth time competing at a Summer Olympic Games. The Gambian delegation consisted of two track and field athletes, Pa Mamadou Gai and Adama Njie. Neither advanced beyond the first round heats of their events. (Full article...)

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Gambia Regiment Gambia women's national football team Gilbert Thomas Carter Alexander Grant (British Army officer) 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