About The Gambia Name and Unique Facts
Yes it is officially true, the The officially belongs in front of Gambia since 1964.
The Permanent
Committee on Geographical Names says "A letter dated May 1964
from the Gambian prime minister's office instructed that
The Gambia should be used with a capital T. One of the reasons they gave was that The Gambia could
be confused with Zambia, which was a new name to the international community at
the time."Interesting facts about The Gambia
1. The official name is
Republic of The Gambia.
2. The Gambia gained
its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
3. The Gambia is
Africa's smallest mainland country at 11,295 sq km or 4,361 sq miles.
4. The Gambia is
geographically surrounded by Senegal.
5. From 1982-1989 The
Gambia and Senegal formed Senegambia.
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| The Gambia banned gambling March 1, 2015 |
6. The 1,130km or 700
mile long Gambia River runs through the middle of the country and using the
ferry or small privately owned wooden pirogues boats as means of transportation
across the river to Senegal is common practice.
7. The peanut crop
dominates The Gambia agricultural exports about 75% of the population depends
on the agricultural sector for its livelihood as well as one of the larger markets
for tourism in West Africa.
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| The Gambia Capital city is Banjul |
8. The median age of
the nearly 2 million Gambians residents is 20.2 years old.
9. The Gambia banned
gambling March 1, 2015, denouncing the industry as "exploitative" and
saying the government acted to prevent its youth from becoming a generation of
addicts.
10. The Gambia
ethnic groups mainly fall into the Mandinka 42%, Fula 18%, Wolof 16%, Jola 10%,
Serahuli 9%, other 4%, and non-African 1%.
11. The Gambia
religions are divided roughly into Muslim 90%, Christian 8%, and indigenous
beliefs 2%.
12. The
government of Yahya Jammeh changed the long-form name to Islamic Republic of
The Gambia in December 2015. In January 2017, the new president Adama Barrow
changed the country's name back to Republic of The Gambia.
13. The Gambia
national symbol is the lion and national anthem "For The Gambia, Our
Homeland".
14. Administrative
divisions are one city of Banjul and five divisions of the Central River, Lower
River, North Bank, Upper River, and Western.
15. The Gambia
flag; three equal horizontal bands of red (top), blue with white edges, and
green; red stands for the sun and the savannah, blue represents the Gambia
River and green symbolizes forests and agriculture; the white stripes denote
unity and peace.
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| The Gambia flag |
