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.

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.

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.