How An African River Became Its Own Country (The Gambia)

0:00
Have you ever looked at a map of Africa and noticed this country
0:04
It's called the Gambia and its geography is pretty odd, to the point that one could argue it doesn't really make sense
0:11
It's the smallest country in continental Africa, surrounded by Senegal on all sides
0:16
It effectively exists inside another country, only not being landlocked because it borders the Atlantic Ocean to its west
0:24
And all of the Gambia's territory actually exists alongside a body of water
0:28
the Gambia River. The thin shape of the country is in fact justified by its connection to the rivers
0:34
It exists on its sides along its course through an area of only 11,300 square kilometers
0:42
but still counting a population of around 2.7 million people. So why does this country exist? In this video, we are going to find out
0:58
By the way, I just did a poll over on Patreon about what extra content people on it want
1:06
to see and a flag tier ranking video one and so I'm gonna be posting that pretty soon
1:12
If you want to see me rank and tier all of the world's country flags, just remember
1:17
to follow there as well. But now let's get back to the Gambia. First, how did it get its name
1:22
The name Gambia is derived from the Portuguese term Cambio, meaning trade or exchange
1:28
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region and trade along the Yambia river
1:34
They would have therefore named the river like this and the term then evolved to be used
1:38
for the entire region around the river and then the country upon its independence
1:43
There is however another theory that states that it comes from a native word which is
1:49
a sedit word, I guess those were the natives at the time, and the word is gamba, which
1:54
Which apparently describes a specific type of vegetable used in some type of ceremony
1:59
when a local elder of the natives would die. Either way, the name ended up being The Gambia, for the river and then for the country
2:07
And a fun fact is that The Gambia is actually one of very few countries in the world in
2:11
which the definite article is used when referring to the country's name
2:15
We say The Gambia and not just Gambia. And interestingly, the article is actually also used officially by the country's institutions
2:23
and by international bodies, originally because the region was named after the Gambia River
2:29
But in 1964, prior to the country's independence, the first Prime Minister wrote to the Permanent
2:34
Committee on Geographical Names for British official use, requesting that the name the
2:40
Gambia would retain the article when being used in order to differentiate it from Zambia
2:45
which had also recently gained independence. And from an official point of view, the Gambia is one of only two countries in the world that
2:53
has a definite article as a part of their official name, the other one being the Bahamas
2:57
So now we get why the borders of the country are so odd. They exist and are lined along the Gambia
3:04
River and we understand why the country is called the Gambia because it's named after the river
3:09
But still why does it exist Why wasn it just absorbed into Senegal that surrounds it from almost all sides and why did it become its own independent state upon the moment of African independence from their European colonizers
3:24
To understand why, we need to learn a little bit about the history of the region
3:29
At the beginning of the 14th century, most of what is today the Gambia was part of the
3:33
Mali Empire. The Portuguese reached this area by sea in the mid 15th century and began to dominate
3:39
local trade, but in 1588 they decided to sell the exclusive trading rights of the region
3:45
to their allies, the English. And so English merchants began to trade there, something that was reinforced in the year
3:51
of 1618 when King James I granted a charter to an English company for trade with the Gambia
3:58
and the Gold Coast, which is now Ghana. An interesting piece of history is that between 1651 and 1661, a few parts of the Gambia
4:08
St Andrew's Island in the Gambia River and St Mary's Island, which is modern-day Banjul
4:13
as well as Fort Gillafri, came under the rule of the Duchy of Courland
4:17
a vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in roughly what is today Latvia
4:22
which presents us with an example of these very rare and lesser-known European attempts at colonialism
4:28
that were made from smaller states in Europe and ended up not succeeding
4:32
In this case, the colonies were formally ceded back to England in 1664
4:37
they ended up in the hands of Courland in the first place because a member of their royal family
4:41
just bought the rights to establish a colony there from the English but then ended up giving them back
4:48
During the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century both the British and the French
4:53
fought over having commercial supremacy in the areas of the Gambia River but also of the Senegal
4:58
River and the British ended up occupying the whole of the borders of the Gambia River by around 1758
5:05
And a few years later in 1783 the Treaty of Versailles established that the Gambia would in fact become a British dominion
5:13
Something that was very important because the Gambia River was still key to trade in the region
5:18
Even around 300 years after it was first explored by the Portuguese
5:23
But it wasn't really managed separately at this time It was just a part of the British domains in Africa
5:28
Only later on would the British provide some actual territorial organization And so the Gambia was initially under the jurisdiction of the British governor general in Sierra Leone, but in 1888 it became a separate colony
5:43
Perhaps justified by the obvious fact that Sierra Leone is territorially disconnected from the Gambia, and the Gambia territory was surrounded on all sides by territories of another colonial power, the French
5:55
And so we essentially already understand why it ended up becoming its own country upon African independence
6:01
because while Senegal was a French colony, the Gambia was a British colony
6:06
and so their independence processes were separate. Before that, in 1889, a joint Anglo-French commission met and decided where the borders between the two colonial powers would be
6:17
And interestingly, the locals didn't like it. They rebelled against this commission and didn't like their lands being divided
6:24
which shows us that at least at one point, and in some areas, some people would prefer
6:29
to belong to a single unified country but this was like 200 plus years ago and as we will see things ended up changing a little The Gambia became a British crown colony called British Gambia divided for administrative purposes into the colony
6:45
which is the city of Banjul and surrounding areas and the protectorate which was the remainder of
6:50
the territory. The Gambia then received its own executive and legislative councils in 1901 and it
6:56
gradually progressed towards self-government. Moving on into the later 20th century, the calls
7:02
for independence from Africa were starting to echo across the continent. And especially after
7:07
World War II, the British Empire began falling apart, either by choice or by force. And independence
7:13
for the Gambia was coming as well. Oh and speaking of World War II, on a little bit of a side note
7:19
during the conflict, soldiers from the Gambia also participated in the conflict on the side of
7:23
the British and the Allies. But while there was a conflict in North Africa, most of them were
7:29
actually placed in Burma, fighting hundreds if not thousands of kilometers away from home
7:34
The capital of Banjul also had an airstrip, which was used mostly by the US Air Force
7:40
and the local port was also important in refueling ships from the Allied forces
7:44
But anyway, let's get back to the independence process. The Gambia achieved independence in 1965, first as a constitutional monarchy within the
7:52
Commonwealth of Nations, with Elizabeth II as Queen of the Gambia. by a governor general which is a similar model to what you see in some Caribbean nations
8:03
even today, although even those seem to be moving away from that model
8:07
Shortly after, the local government held a referendum wanting to become a republic but
8:11
it failed to reach the two-thirds majority they needed to alter the constitution and it
8:16
took a second vote in the year of 1970 for them to succeed and become a republic within
8:23
the commonwealth which is I think a similar model to what Australia or New Zealand are
8:27
today, but correct me in the comments if I'm wrong, I'm not really sure about this
8:31
However, their very stable independence process, which was even complemented abroad because
8:36
of how successful the voting and the respect for civil rights was, was a little bit short-lived
8:41
An attempted coup in 1981 happened while the Gambian President was attending the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in London
8:50
and while they failed, instability was arriving. After returning from London, the Gambian president requested military aid from the surrounding Senegal
8:59
which deployed around 3,000 troops to fight the rebels. The following year, in 1982, Senegal and the Gambia ended up joining each other in a confederation
9:08
called Senegambia, a pretty original merger of the two names. The project aimed to combine the armed forces of the two states and to unify their economies and
9:18
and currencies, but the Gambia permanently withdrew from the confederation in 1989 because
9:24
it became clear that Senegal wanted to move towards a full political union while the Gambia
9:29
wanted to retain their independence. Showing us that their existence as a separate country from Senegal may have begun with the
9:35
fact that they were separate countries by separate colonial powers, but it was then
9:39
confirmed by the people of the Gambia themselves even after they achieved independence
9:45
is the country's sole language being used throughout the country and it is possible that that period of British rule
9:51
ended up leading to the creation of a separate national identity which then differs from the one built within Senegal And throughout the years through coup and counter the Gambia has fluctuated between revolution and
10:04
instability and attempts at democracy ever since. And so they continue to exist today as a very
10:10
very narrow country. The smallest in continental Africa sandwiched inside Senegal but with an
10:16
opening to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gambia River along its entire territory, splitting it
10:21
into north and south. It lies between latitudes 13 and 14 degrees north and longitudes 13 and 17
10:27
degrees west and it's actually the most narrow country in the world as long as you're able to
10:32
measure the narrowness between north and south and not only between east and west. If you do that
10:37
then actually Chile is the narrowest in the world. Is narrowest a word or do you have to say the most
10:42
narrow? I don't know but you know what I mean. The river and ocean elements help us understand how
10:48
the Gambia's economy is mostly dominated by fishing and farming, but tourism is starting to
10:53
play a very key role as well. It isn't, however, a very rich country. In fact, it's one of the
10:58
poorest in the world. Ranking 163 out of 196, and inside Africa, it's the 46th out of 54
11:07
Their GDP at Power Purchasing Parity in 2019 was around $6 billion, but they are growing
11:13
so that could be seen as a good sign. Still in 2022 over 17% of their population was below the
11:19
poverty line which is measured by having less than $2.15 a day to survive. The Gambia is a founding
11:25
member of the ECOWAS. It rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations in 2018 after having left in 2013 so
11:32
hopefully those regional and international cooperation opportunities will help it grow and move out of that state of poverty. So that is why the Gambia is its own country, despite it not
11:43
really making sense from a geographical point of view, but allowing us to understand how it does
11:47
make sense from an historical point of view, and how the will of the people of having their own
11:52
country also exists, perhaps connected to that historical context. But what do you think? Should
11:57
it remain independent, or does it make more political and economical sense to join up with
12:03
Senegal again. Also, what are some other countries that you think are odd in their geography or just
12:08
in their existence in general? Let me know in the comments. Thank you so much to my patrons for
12:13
making this video possible. The list of patrons continues to grow. I'm very, very thankful for
12:18
that because it's very good to rely on your contributions directly, which are more predictable
12:22
than having to depend on ads and sponsorships. I hope we can continue having the channel move
12:28
towards that direction and so if you want to help do that make sure to join us on Patreon as well
12:33
Either way thank you to all of you for watching remember to subscribe if you want to catch
12:37
future videos and I will see you next time for more general knowledge
12:50
By the way I don't know if you guys know but there is a discord for people that follow the
12:55
channel so if you want to have a place to chat with people that like history, geography and stuff
12:59
like that it's a pretty good place to be. And today's movement cup is this one which has
13:04
a girl sitting down on one side standing up on the other. It's cool. I think it's the same girl
13:12
right? Yeah it's the same one. Just different outfits. Like me in every video. I try to..

How An African River Became Its Own Country (The Gambia)

General Knowledge

The Vikings Raided & Colonized Europe, Here's How

Places In The World That Have The Same Names (& Why?)

Countries That Changed Their Location

The Old Names Of AFRICAN Countries (& Why They Changed)

1 Hour of Geography Quizzes to Watch While You Sleep

Countries That Were DESTROYED

Countries That Have Bought Territory From Other Countries

Failed! States that have attempted to split and failed.

Watch moment Bev and Ben are left SPEECHLESS after GB News guest claims BBC 'bends over backwards to be accurate'

U.S. States That Would Succeed As Independent Countries

Countries That USED TO EXIST In MEDIEVAL ASIA

WATCH: Lt Colonel Stuart Crawford praises young Britons for their 'revitalised interest' in Remembrance

The Oldest Company In Each European Country

How Did Each European Country Get Its Name?

Asian Countries That DISAPPEARED (& Why)

Up next in 10

How An African River Became Its Own Country (The Gambia)

General Knowledge