Gambia

Continent: Africa
Capital: Banjul
Abolition Date:In 1906 in the Gambia, an ordinance was approved that anyone born after that date could not be enslaved, but remaining slaves were to be freed only on the death of their masters.
Start Date: See Notes...
Currency: Dalasi

Languages Spoken: English (official), Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, other indigenous
Population: As estimated in late 2006, is 1,595,000.
National Anthem: "For The Gambia, Our Homeland"

The first written accounts of the region come from records of Arab traders in the 9th and 10th centuries AD, who established the trans-Saharan trade route for slaves, gold and ivory. In the 15th century, the Portuguese took over this trade using maritime routes. At that time, The Gambia was part of the Mali Empire.

In 1807, slave trading was abolished throughout the British Empire, and the British tried unsuccessfully to end the slave trade in The Gambia. In the ensuing years, Banjul was at times under the jurisdiction of the British Governor General in Sierra Leone.

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