Abstract
The Gambia was discovered by the early Portuguese navigators, but they made no settlement. During the 17th century various companies of merchants obtained trading charters and established a settlement on the river, which, from 1807, was controlled from Sierra Leone; in 1843 it was made an independent Crown Colony; in 1866 it formed part of the West African Settlements, but in Dec. 1888 it again became a separate Crown Colony. The boundaries were delimited only after 1890. The Gambia achieved full internal self-government on 4 Oct. 1963 and became an independent member of the Commonwealth on 18 Feb. 1965. The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth on 24 April 1970. The Gambia, with Senegal formed the Confederation of Senegambia on 1 Feb. 1982.
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Further Reading
The Gambia since Independence 1965–1980. Banjul, 1980
Gamble, D. P., The Gambia. [Bibliography] Oxford and Santa Barbara, 1988
Tomkinson, M., The Gambia: A Holiday Guide. London, 1983
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© 1989 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Paxton, J. (1989). The Gambia. In: Paxton, J. (eds) The Statesman’s Year-Book. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271180_65
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271180_65
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-27118-0
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