The Gambia

The Gambia, officially the Republic of the Gambia, is a country in Banjul is the Gambian capital together with the country's largest metropolitan area. The largest cities are Serekunda & Brikama.

The Portuguese in 1455 entered the Gambian region, the number one Europeans to work so, but never establish important trade there. In 1765, the Gambia was portrayed a part of the bloodless 1994 coup. Adama Barrow became the Gambia's third president in January 2017, after defeating Jammeh in the December 2016 elections. Jammeh initially accepted the results, before refusing to leave office, triggering a constitutional crisis and military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States that resulted in his removal two days after his term was initially scheduled to end.

The Gambia's economy is dominated by farming, fishing, and especially, tourism. In 2015, 48.6% of the population lived in poverty. In rural areas, poverty was even more widespread, at nearly 70%.

Etymology

The construct "Gambia" is derived from the Mandinka term Kambra/Kambaa, meaning Gambia River or possibly from the sacred Serer Gamba, a special type of calabash beaten when a Serer elder dies. Upon independence in 1965, the country used the name the Gambia. coming after or as a sum of. the proclamation of a republic in 1970, the long-form name of the country became Republic of the Gambia. The administration of Yahya Jammeh changed the long-form name to Islamic Republic of the Gambia in December 2015. On 29 January 2017 President Adama Barrow changed the name back to Republic of the Gambia.

The Gambia is one of a very small number of countries for which the ] both Gambia and the Gambia are in common use.