About Gambia

Facts and information about Gambia aimed at the overseas property investor  

Did you know?

The Gambia is one of the few countries in the world named after its relevance to trade. During Portuguese presence in 1455,

 the river Gambia provided access to the hinterland and was promptly named ‘El Cambio’ i.e. ‘a means of exchange’.

The Gambia evolved from this name.

The Gambia once chaired the United Nations’ Security Council.

An average Gambian is multi-lingual. As early as age five, Gambians speak about 2 to 3 languages: an evidence of ethnic harmony.

Mungo Park, the Scottish explorer who traced the source and course of the river Niger, started his journey in the Gambia and has

 a memorial pillar erected in his honour.

The Gambia is the smallest country on the African continent.

Alex Haley, a renowned African-American writer traced his ancestral roots to The Gambia in his popular novel ‘Roots’.

Basing his assertions on correlations between recollections of elder relatives and a story narrated by a Gambian

griot about the slave capture of his African forbear, Kunta Kinteh, Alex Haley created a story that shook and moved

 the world to the horrors of the slave trade and by so doing, popularized the Gambia. By some stroke of nature

or diplomacy, Alex’s younger brother, George Haley, is presently the American Ambassador to the Gambia,

making him perhaps the unique representative of his country to ‘his country’.

Quick Facts Gambia

Location: West Africa – The smallest country on mainland Africa

Capital: Banjul

Land Area: 11,295 Sq.km (4361 Sq. Miles)

Population: 1.5 million

Climate: Pleasant sub-tropical climate with two distinct seasons

Time zone: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Currency: Dalasi (GMD) Pronounced (DA-LA-SI)

Religion: Islam about 85 % of the population
Christianity and African Traditional Religions (ATR) 15%

Official Language: English

Local Languages:
Mandinka, Wollof, Fula, Jola, Sarahule, Serere, Manjango, Creole (Aku or pigeon English, broken English).

French is taught in some secondary and high schools and some of the staff in hotels, restaurants and excursion

agencies speak other European languages such as German, Italian, Dutch, French and the Scandinavian languages.