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 centers. Both groups established
trans-Saharan trade routes, leading to a large trade in slaves,
gold, ivory (exports)
and manufactured goods (imports). By the eleventh or twelfth century, the
rulers of kingdoms such as Takrur (a monarchy centered on the Senegal River just
to the north), ancient Ghana and Gao, had converted to Islam and had appointed
Muslims who were literate in the Arabic
language as courtiers. At
the beginning of the fourteenth century, most of what is today called Gambia
was part of the Mali Empire. The Portuguese reached this area
by sea in the mid-fifteenth century, and they 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 were under Courland's
rule, and had been bought by Prince Jacob Kettler,
who was a Polish-Lithuanian vassal. 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 First 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.
As many as three million slaves may
have been taken from this general region during the three centuries that
the transatlantic slave trade operated.
It is not known how many slaves were taken by inter-tribal wars or Muslim
traders before the transatlantic slave trade began. Most of those taken were
sold by other Africans to Europeans; others were prisoners of inter-tribal
wars; some were victims sold because of unpaid debts; and others were simply
victims of kidnapping. Traders initially
sent slaves to Europe to work as servants until the market for labour expanded
in the West Indies and North America in the
eighteenth century. In 1807, the United Kingdom abolished the slave trade throughout
its empire. It also tried, unsuccessfully, to end the slave trade in the
Gambia. Slave ships intercepted by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron in the Atlantic
were also returned to the Gambia, with liberated 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, 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 with the French
Republic in 1889 established the present boundaries. 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 finally abolished in
1906. 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 there is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery
in Fajara (close to Banjul). Banjul contained an airstrip for
the US Army Air Forces and a port of call for
Allied naval convoys. President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt visited by air and
stopped overnight in Banjul en route to and from the Casablanca Conference (1943) in Morocco,
marking the first visit to the African continent by an American president.
The Gambia is a very small and narrow country whose
borders mirror the meandering Gambia River.
The country is less than 48.2 km
wide at its widest point, with a total area of 11,295 km2. Approximately 1,300 km2 (11.5%) of
the Gambia's area is covered by water. It is the smallest country on the
continent of Africa. In comparative terms the Gambia has a total area which is
slightly less than that of the island of Jamaica.
The Gambia is surrounded on three sides by Senegal, with 80 km of
coastline on the Atlantic Ocean on its western side. The climate of the Gambia is tropical. There
is a hot and rainy season, normally from June until November, but from then
until May there are cooler temperatures with less precipitation. The climate in the Gambia is about the same
as that found in neighboring Senegal, southern Mali, and the northern
part of Benin. Its 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 approximately 320 km of the Gambia River to control.
Starting with the placement of boundary markers in 1891, it took nearly fifteen
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 that are approximately 16 km north and south of the Gambia River.
Agriculture accounts for roughly 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) and
employs about 70% of the labour force. Within agriculture, peanut production
accounts for 6.9% of GDP, other crops 8.3%, livestock 5.3%, fishing 1.8%, and
forestry 0.5%. Industry accounts for approximately 8% of GDP and services approximately
58%. The limited amount of manufacturing is primarily agricultural-based (e.g.,
peanut processing, bakeries, a brewery, and a tannery). Other manufacturing
activities include soap, soft drinks, and clothing. Previously, the United Kingdom and other EU
countries constituted the major Gambian major domestic export markets. However,
in recent years Senegal, the United States, and Japan have become significant
trade partners of the Gambia. In Africa, Senegal represented the biggest trade
partner of the Gambia in 2007, which is a defining contrast to previous years
that saw Guinea-Bissau and Ghana as equally important trade partners. Globally,
Denmark, the United States, and China have become important source countries
for Gambian imports. The UK, Germany, Ivory Coast,
and the Netherlands also provide a fair share of Gambian imports. The Gambian
trade deficit for 2007 was $331 million.
A variety of ethnic groups live
in the Gambia, each preserving its own language and traditions. The Mandinka ethnicity
is the largest, followed by the Fula, Wolof, Jola, Serahule,
Serers and
the Bianunkas. The Krio people, locally known as Akus,
constitute one of the smallest ethnic minorities in the Gambia. They are
descendants of the Sierra Leone Creole people and have
been traditionally concentrated in the capital.
There are approximately 3,500 non-African residents including Europeans
and families of Lebanese origin (roughly 0.23% of the total population). Most
of the European minority are Britons,
many of whom left after independence. English
is the official language of the Gambia. Other languages are Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Serer, Krio and
other indigenous vernaculars. Due to
geographical setting French language knowledge is relatively widespread.
The Constitution mandates free and compulsory primary
education in the Gambia. Lack of resources and educational infrastructure has
made implementation of this difficult. In
1995, the gross primary enrolment rate was 77.1% and the net primary enrolment
rate was 64.7%. School fees long
prevented many children from attending school, but in February 1998 President
Jammeh ordered the termination of fees for the first six years of schooling. Girls make up about 52 percent of primary
school students. The figure may be lower for girls in rural areas, where
cultural factors and poverty prevent parents from sending girls to school. Approximately
twenty percent of school-age children attend Koranic schools.
In June 2011, the United Nations Population Fund released
a report on The State of
the World's Midwifery. It contained new data on the midwifery
workforce and policies relating to newborn and maternal mortality for 58
countries. The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Gambia is
400. This is compared with 281.3 in 2008 and 628.5 in 1990. The under 5
mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 106 and the neonatal mortality as a
percentage of under 5's mortality is 31. The aim of this report is to highlight
ways in which the Millennium Development Goals can be
achieved, particularly Goal 4 – Reduce child mortality and Goal 5 – reduce
maternal death. In Gambia the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 5 and
the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is 1 in 49. Public expenditure was at 1.8% of the GDP in
2004, whereas private expenditure was at 5.0%.
There were 11 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s. Life
expectancy at birth was at 59.9 for females in 2005 and for males at 57.7. According to the World Health Organization in
2005 an estimated 78.3% of Gambian girls and women have suffered female genital mutilation.
Article 25 of the Constitution protects the rights of
citizens to practice any religion that they choose. The government also did not establish a state
religion. Islam is the predominant
religion, practiced by approximately ninety percent of the country's
population. The majority of the Muslims in the Gambia adhere to Sunnilaws and traditions. Virtually all commercial life in the Gambia comes
to a standstill during major Muslim holidays, including Eid al-Adha and Eid ul-Fitr. Most Muslims in the Gambia follow the Maliki school
of jurisprudence.
There is also a Shiite Muslim community in the Gambia, mainly from Lebanese and
other Arab immigrants to the region. The
Christian community represents about eight percent of the population.
Residing in the western and the southern parts of the Gambia, most of the
Christian community identify themselves as Roman Catholic. However, there are
smaller Christian groups present, such as Anglicans, Methodists,
Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and small evangelical
denominations. The remaining
1.97 percent of the population adheres to indigenous beliefs, such as the Serer
religion. Serer religion
encompasses cosmology and a belief in a supreme deity called Rog. Some of
its religious festivals include the Xoy, Mbosseh and Randou
Rande. Each year, adherents to Serer religion make the annual pilgrimage
to Sine in Senegal for the Xoy divination
ceremony. Due to immigration from South
Asia, there is a presence of Buddhists and
followers of the Bahá'í Faith.
Although the Gambia is the smallest country on mainland
Africa, its culture is the product of very diverse influences. The national
borders outline a narrow strip on either side of the River Gambia, a body of
water that has played a vital part in the nation's destiny and is known locally
simply as "the River." Without natural barriers, the Gambia has
become home to most of the ethnic groups that are present throughout western
Africa, especially those in Senegal. Europeans also figure prominently in the
nation's history because the River Gambia is navigable deep into the continent,
a geographic feature that made this area one of the most profitable sites for
the slave trade from the 15th through the 17th centuries. (It also made it
strategic to the halt of this trade once it was outlawed in the 19th century.)
Some of this history was popularized in the Alex Haley book
and TV series Roots which was set
in the Gambia.
No comments:
Post a Comment