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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 2,468,569 people in 2024. 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. Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless 1994 coup. (Full article...)

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The Gambia has sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games held since 1984, although the country has never won an Olympic medal. The Gambia is yet to compete at the Winter Olympic Games.

The Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) was formed in 1972 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1976. The country boycotted the first two games for which it was eligible (1976 and 1980). Its first delegation consisted of ten athletes, all of whom were runners. Subsequent delegations have included wrestlers (1988), a long jumper (1996), a boxer (2008), a judoka (2016), and a swimmer (2016), but in all other years the Gambia has been represented solely by runners. (Full article...)

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Image 1Banjul International Airport

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

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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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Sir Alexander Grant (1775 – 29 September 1827) was a British Army officer who served as the first Commandant of St Mary's Island from 1816 to 1826.

An officer with the newly-founded Royal African Corps, Grant negotiated the purchase of St Mary's Island in the Gambia River from the King of Kombo in 1816, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the first settlement in what would later become the Gambia Colony and Protectorate. During his time as commandant, Grant founded the town of Bathurst on the island, which later became Banjul and the capital city of The Gambia as an independent country. Grant also purchased MacCarthy Island, further down the Gambia River, and founded on it Georgetown - now Janjanbureh - as a settlement for freed slaves. (Full article...)

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Gambia Regiment Gambia women's national football team Gilbert Thomas Carter The Gambia at the 2000 Summer Olympics 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