HISTORY

The earliest written reference to The Gambia area is found in the scriptures of Hanno, The Carthage. The Carthages lived in the old European/ Mediterranean area around 470 BC and made many intercontinental voyages which brought them in contact with far civilisations.

Also around this time the first spreading of the Islamic religion went on from the North to the South of Africa.

The first Gambian settlements that had knowledge of agriculture and that could work iron in a simple manner were to be found around 500 AD on the banks of the Gambia river. Ad time past the trans-Sahara trade routes began to spread. It is commonly presumed that in the 5th to 8th century the Sarahuley people populated the old SeneGambia area.

In the 14th century the impressive Empire of Mali (Manding) reached from the edge of the Sahara dessert to deep in the jungles of what is currently Sierra Leone. This Empire was founded by Sundiate Keita, head of the Mandinka tribes.

They dominated nearly all trans-Sahara trade routes and the contact that came from this with the leaders of the Arabian states resulted in the enthusiastic change of religion to Islam by the Mandinka rulers.

Just about as quick as the Manding Empire had risen it fell apart again and around the 15th century the Empire lost its hold on the region.

The Islam however remained as religion in the area and started to gain even more ground on the ancient animistic religions.

The first contact with the Portuguese was made in 1456 when a Portuguese reconnaissance fleet set foot on what is now known as James Island.

The Portuguese wanted to surpass the trade routes, which were dominated by the Arabs at that time who mainly transported gold, and until the 16th century they managed to obtain a monopoly on the West African nautical routes. The set up trade-posts where they traded salt, iron, gunpowder and guns in exchange for ivory, gold, ebony and slaves.

At the start of the 17th century the Portuguese colonies in Brazil had a great shortage of labourers what lead to the deportation of slaves from the old SeneGambia area to Brazil. After this the Dutch and the French followed their example causing Portugal to loose it’s monopoly position.

Slaves were put to work i.e. America, Jamaica, Suriname and the Antilles Islands. The slave-masters took away the tribal family names of the slaves and replaced them for European (sir)names. This way the slaves not only lost there homeland but also their family backgrounds. Many descendants of the first slaves are trying currently to find out about their heritage and identities, something that due to the thoroughness of the slave-traders has been made near to impossible.

In 1661 the British took a definitive hold of James Island and this was the beginning of the British invasion. The French occupied the area now known as Senegal. In 1765 the first British military forts were built, the trade was by then mainly a slave trade.

As late as 1807 slavery was abolished by the British occupant but they maintained control over The Gambia. In 1887 the final borders between The Gambia and Senegal were drawn up by the British and the French and this resulted in the geographical separation of the old SeneGambia area.

As slavery was now abolished there had to be an alternative trade found so the British started to set up peanut plantations. To this day the peanut is the main export product of The Gambia.

After World War II more and more voices called for Self Ruling but only on February 18th 1965 The Gambia gained political independence from Great Britain. However, Queen Elisabeth II remained head of State as it was commonly thought that The Gambia could not make it on its own.

During that time two occurrences made sure The Gambia was able to survive as a small independent state, even with success:

Worldtrade prices for peanuts had risen enormously and, even more important, tourism to The Gambia started to come into fashion.

On April the 24th 1970 The Gambia became an independent republic lead by President Dawda Kairaba Jawara, who was re-elected for 5 consecutive terms.

The relative stability was first disturbed in 1981 when Kokoi Samba Sanyang tried an unsuccessful coupe. After a week of riots the rebels were defeated by Senegalese army troops, sent in on demand of Jawara.

A second, successful, coupe was made in July 1994 by a young army lieutenant by the name of Yahya Jammeh. A new military regime was formed but when this lead to a decrease of the country’s income generated by tourism, Jammeh decided in 1996 to hold elections.

A new constitution was drawn up and the winner of the elections was Jammeh himself. It is whispered that the election was not a free election.

President Jammeh is to this day still in power and has re-established some stability in The Gambia. Tourism is again on the rise in The Gambia which resulted a/o in building the modern airport of Yundum (which also services as an emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle) and in making an attempt to improve the country’s infrastructure.

The Gambia today has a rapid devaluation of its currency, The Dallassi. This results in heavy rises in prices for goods, making day to day life hard for the Gambians.