As early as AD 500, towns and villages based on agriculture and the knowledge of iron were dotted across the West African region. As the first millennium progressed, trade increased significantly between the regions north and south of the Sahara.
In the 14th century, the Empire of Mali - founded by Sundiata Keita, leader of the Malinké people - encompassed the area from the Atlantic coast of today's Gambia and Senegal all the way to Niger and Nigeria. This vast empire controlled nearly all the trans-Saharan trade, and contact with the rulers of the Arab states to the north led the Mali rulers to embrace Islam with great enthusiasm. By the mid-15th century, the Mali empire was waning in influence, and a group of Malinké people migrated into the valley of the Gambia River. They brought Islam with them and became known as the Mandinka.
In the early 15th century, Prince Henry of Portugal began encouraging navigators to sail down the coast of West Africa, hoping to bypass the Arab and Muslim domination of the trans-Saharan gold trade, which by that time was the cornerstone of Portugal's finances. Gambia's first contact with Europeans came in 1456, when these navigators landed on James Island about 30km (19mi) upriver from the sea. Although the Portuguese didn't establish a settlement, they continued to monopolise trade along the West African coast throughout the 16th century. In their trading posts, salt, iron, pots and pans, firearms and gunpowder were exchanged for ivory, ebony, beeswax, gold and slaves. (It's been suggested that the Gambia River's name stems from the Portuguese word
By 1530, Portugal had established settlements in Brazil, and over the next 70 years large commercial estates there led to a demand for labourers, which the Portuguese began to import from West Africa. Although slavery had existed in Africa for many centuries, the Portuguese developed the trade on a massive scale and maintained a virtual monopoly on it until the mid-16th century, when Britain joined the trade. By the 1650s, Portugal had been largely ousted by the French and British.
The first European settlement in Gambia was made by Baltic Germans, who built a fort on James Island in 1651. Ten years later, they were displaced by the British, who were themselves ever under threat from French ships, pirates and the mainland African kings. Fort James lost its strategic appeal with the construction of new forts at Barra and Bathurst (now Banjul) at the mouth of the Gambia River, which were better placed to control the movement of ships, though Fort James continued to serve as a slave collection point until the trade was abolished.
Britain declared the Gambia River a British Protectorate in 1820 and for many years ruled it from Sierra Leone. In 1886, Gambia became a crown colony, and the following year France and Britain drew the boundaries between Senegal (by then a French colony) and Gambia.
With the slave trade at an end, the British were forced to come up with a new source of wealth to support the fledgling protectorate, which led to the planting of groundnuts (peanuts) along the river. The harvested nuts are crushed to make oil, which is exported to Europe for use in food manufacture. In the 1950s, Gambia's groundnut production was beefed up as a way to increase export earnings and make the country that much more self-supportive, and today groundnuts remain the chief crop of both Gambia and neighbouring Senegal.
In 1965, Gambia became independent (although Britain's Queen Elizabeth II remained as titular head of state), and without any official explanation the
Economic growth translated into political confidence, and in 1970 Gambia became a fully independent republic. Troubles in the 1980s began with falling groundnut prices, while the government of President Dawda Jawara did little to diversify the economy. Several coup attempts were quelled with the assistance of Senegalese troops, who were integrated with Gambian troops in 1982 as the Senegambian Confederation, while Jawara made some noncommittal noises about an eventual Senegambian country. In 1989, the confederation was dissolved and both countries imposed severe border restrictions. Tensions ran high well into 1990.
A protest by soldiers over late salaries in July 1994 turned into a coup d'etat, led by a young lieutenant, Yahya Jammeh, who appeared in public wearing combat fatigues and dark sunglasses - a look that did little to endear him to the international community. A new military government was formed, and Jammeh announced that he would remain in power at least until 1998. After suffering the fiscal repercussions of the British Foreign Office's advice to British tourists to avoid the country, Jammeh pragmatically switched tack and announced that elections would be held in 1996. A new constitution was introduced, ushering in the Second Republic, and Jammeh was the clear winner of the election.
Despite periodic allegations of corruption among his party's officials, Jammeh remains in power and has brought some degree of stability to the country. Tourism is back in a big way, and the Gambian infrastructure is improving, as evidenced by the modern Banjul International Airport. Expectations among Gambians are high, though it may prove difficult for the government to implement all of its promises.
There was civil unrest in Banjul and Brikama in early 2000 as Gambian security forces were put on the alert following violence in the streets of the capital, Banjul. Six people were killed as a student demonstration called to protest against police brutality degenerated into a pitched battle between demonstrators and police forces. Schools and colleges were temporarily closed and riot police patrolled the streets. More recently things have calmed down, although tension still simmers among the local populace.
