Place:Gambia

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NameGambia
Alt namesThe Gambia
British West Africasource: Family History Library Catalog
Gambiasource: Getty Vocabulary Program
Gambiesource: UN Terminology Bulletin (1993) p 52
Gâmbiasource: Novo Dicionário Aurélio (1975) p 672
Republic of The Gambiasource: Wikipedia
The Republic of the Gambiasource: Cambridge World Gazetteer (1990) p 219
TypeNation
Coordinates13.5°N 15.5°W
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The Gambia, officially the Republic of the Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland Africa and is surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the centre of the Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, thus the long shape of the country. It has an area of with a population of 1,857,181 as of the April 2013 census. Banjul is the Gambian capital and the country's largest metropolitan area. The largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.

The Portuguese in 1455 entered the Gambian region, the first Europeans to do so, but never established important trade there. In 1765, the Gambia was made a part of the British Empire by establishment of the Gambia. In 1965, the Gambia gained independence under the leadership of Dawda Jawara, who ruled until Yahya Jammeh seized power in a 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 almost 70%.[1]

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How places in The Gambia are organized

All places in The Gambia

Further information on historical place organization in The Gambia

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at The Gambia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.