Republic of Gambia

The capital:             Banjul

The inhabitants enumerated:             1,455,842 breath of air (estimate of July 2002)

The language:             The English

The sweat:           [maandynkaa] (42%), my beans (18%), [sraahwly] (9%), [wwlwf] (16%)

The climate:             Half tropical

Regime of the governing:            The republican

The economy                        

- the currency:             Dallas my

- [aalmwaaryd]:             Fishy wealths and peanut

The religion:           The Islam (90%), Christ (9%), traditional beliefs (1%)

History

The tribes of Gambia were once part of the empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit in 1455. Gambia became a British colony in 1888, though much power was allowed to remain in the hands of tribal chiefs. The first political parties appeared in the 1950's, with a reduction of the power of the chiefs in favour of the ordinary citizen as a major objective. Gambia became independent on 18 February 1965. Republic status within the Commonwealth was achieved in April 1970. 

It formed a short-lived federation of Senegambia with Senegal between 1982 and 1989. In 1991 the two nations signed a friendship and cooperation treaty. A military coup in 1994 overthrew the president and banned political activity, but a new 1996 constitution and presidential elections, followed by parliamentary balloting in 1997, have completed a nominal return to civilian rule. The Gambia recently emerged from its isolation to accept a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council during 1998-99.