Facts about Gambia
The Gambia, commonly known as Gambia, is the smallest country on the African continental mainland and is surrounded by Senegal, except for a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
In 1618, James I granted a charter to a British company for trade with Gambia and the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
Until a military coup in July 1994, The Gambia was led by Jawara, who was re-elected five times.
During the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth, Britain and France struggled continually for political and commercial supremacy in the regions of the Senegal and Gambia rivers.
Gambians officially observe the holidays of both religions and practice religious tolerance.
More than 80 percent of Gambians live in rural villages, although more and more young people come to the capital, Namjul, in search of work and education.
The Gambia reports 11 percent of its exports going to and 14.6 percent of its imports coming from the United States.
A wide variety of ethnic groups live in The Gambia with a minimum of intertribal friction, each preserving its own language and traditions.
On April 24, 1970, The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth, following a second referendum, with Prime Minister Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara as head of state.
The Senegambia Confederation came into existence; it aimed eventually to combine the armed forces of the two states and to unify their economies and currencies.
The Gambia achieved independence on February 18, 1965, as a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, most of what is today called The Gambia was a tributary to the Mali Empire.
Before the 1994 coup d'йtat, The Gambia was one of the oldest existing multi-party democracies in Africa.
In 1807, slave trading was abolished throughout the British Empire, and the British tried unsuccessfully to end the slave trade in The Gambia.
The tourism industry in The Gambia started when a party of three hundred Swedish tourists arrived in 1965.
Poverty in the Gambia has its roots in slow economic growth and uneven income distribution.
Like its neighbor, The Gambia relies heavily on the export of groundnuts (peanuts) and on tourism for revenue (it is known as a birdwatcher's paradise).
The Gambia received its own executive and legislative councils in 1901 and gradually progressed toward self-government.
The Gambia River provides habitat for wildlife, including dolphins, crocodiles, and hippopotamus.
In 1589, after moving through grammar school, Latin school, and lower and higher seminary in the Lutheran education system, Kepler began attending the University of Tьbingen as a theology student.
The River Gambia flows through the center of the country and empties into the Atlantic.