The Gambia
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The Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publications. p. 11. . and is surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the centre of the Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, thus the long shape of the country. It has an area of with a population of 1,857,181 as of the April 2013 census. Banjul is the Gambian capital and the country's largest metropolitan area, while the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama. The Portugal, Portuguese in 1455 entered the Gambian region, the first Europeans to do so, but never established important trade there. In 1765, the Gambia was made a part of the British Empire by establishment of the Gambia Col ...
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Banjul
Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and
), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital and fourth largest city of . It is the centre of the eponymous administrative division which is home to an estimated 400,000 residents, making it The Gambia's largest and most densely populated metropolitan area. Banjul is on St Mary's Island (Banjul Island), where the enters the < ...
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Coat Of Arms Of The Gambia
The coat of arms of the Gambia has been in use since 18 November 1964. It depicts two lions holding an axe and hoe, supporting a shield that depicts another pair of hoe and axe, crossed. Atop the shield is set the heraldic helmet and an oil palm as a crest. At the bottom is the national motto: Progress – Peace – Prosperity. The Gambian coat of arms also appeared in the fly of the Gambian air force ensign. Overview The two lions represent the colonial history of The Gambia as part of the British Empire. The crossed axe and hoe represent the importance of agriculture to The Gambia. They are also considered to represent the two major ethnic groups of The Gambia: the Mandinka and the Fulani. The crest, a palm tree, is also a vital national tree. The design was created by Nicholas Potin, a government employee with the Department of Surveys, who won a national competition to design it. Variations Coat of arms of Gambia Armed Forces service branches had variations: * Coat of arm ...
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For The Gambia Our Homeland
"For The Gambia Our Homeland" is the national anthem of the Gambia. It is based on the music of a traditional Mandinka song, to which original Mandinka lyrics were written by Jali Nyama Suso. An English arrangement and translation were made by husband and wife Jeremy and Virginia Howe and adopted as the national anthem in 1965. History In the lead-up to the Gambia's independence from the United Kingdom on 18 February 1965, a National Anthem Selection Committee was set up to accept submissions for a national anthem for the country. The Committee would ultimately receive three submissions. One submission, by Reverend John Colley Faye, although acknowledged as "superb" in content, was rejected for being too long, with the Committee preferring something more to the point and easy to memorise. Mandinka musician Jali Nyama Suso was approached by the government to compose an entry. He responded that he would base his proposal on a traditional Mandinka tune dedicated Foday Kabba Dum ...
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For The Gambia Our Homeland (instrumental)
"For The Gambia Our Homeland" is the national anthem of the Gambia. It is based on the music of a traditional Mandinka song, to which original Mandinka lyrics were written by Jali Nyama Suso. An English arrangement and translation were made by husband and wife Jeremy and Virginia Howe and adopted as the national anthem in 1965. History In the lead-up to the Gambia's independence from the United Kingdom on 18 February 1965, a National Anthem Selection Committee was set up to accept submissions for a national anthem for the country. The Committee would ultimately receive three submissions. One submission, by Reverend John Colley Faye, although acknowledged as "superb" in content, was rejected for being too long, with the Committee preferring something more to the point and easy to memorise. Mandinka musician Jali Nyama Suso was approached by the government to compose an entry. He responded that he would base his proposal on a traditional Mandinka tune dedicated Foday Kabba Dum ...
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Mandinka People
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family and a ''lingua franca'' in much of West Africa. Over 99% of Mandinka adhere to Islam. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali. The Mandinka are the descendants of the Mali Empire, which rose to power in the 13th century under the rule of king Sundiata Keita, who founded an empire that would go on to span a large part of West Africa. They migrated west from the Niger River in search of better agricultural lands and more opportunities for conquest. Nowadays, the Mandinka inhabit the West Sudanian savanna region extending from The Gambia and the Casamance region in Senegal to Iv ...
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Kassonke Language
The Kassonke (Khassonké) language, ''Xaasongaxango (Xasonga)'', or Western Maninka (Malinke), is a Manding language spoken by the Khassonké and Malinke of western Mali and by the Malinke of eastern Senegal. Kassonke is a national language in Mali. Western and Eastern Maninka are 90% mutually intelligible, though distinct from the Mandinka (Malinke) of southern Senegal, which is a national language there. See also * Bafoulabé *Kayes Kayes ( Bambara: ߞߊߦߌ tr. ''Kayi'', Soninké: ''Xaayi'') is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The name "Kayes ... References *Koite-Herschel, Ute. 1981. La translation du constituent verbal: le cas du xasonga. Mandenkan 2 (Automne 1981):3–16. *Sullivan, Terrence D.. 2004. "A preliminary report of existing information on the Manding languages of West Africa: summary and suggestions for future research." S ...
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Cangin Languages
The Cangin languages are spoken by 200,000 people (as of 2007) in a small area east of Dakar, Senegal. They are the languages spoken by the Serer people who do not speak the Serer language (''Serer-Sine''). Because the people are ethnically Serer, the Cangin languages are commonly thought to be dialects of the Serer language. However, they are not closely related; Serer is closer to Fulani than it is to Cangin. Languages The Cangin languages are: Lehar and Noon are particularly close, as are Ndut and Palor, though not quite to the point of easy intelligibility. Safen is transparently closer to Lehar–Noon than to Palor–Ndut. Reconstruction Merrill (2018: 451) reconstructs Proto-Cangin as follows.Merrill, John Thomas Mayfield. 2018. The Historical Origin of Consonant Mutation in the Atlantic Languages'. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. See also *Serer language Serer, often broken into differing regional dialects such as Serer-Sine and Serer ...
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Dyula Language
Dyula (or Jula, Dioula, ''Julakan'' ߖߎ߬ߟߊ߬ߞߊ߲) is a language of the Mande language family spoken mainly in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali, and also in some other countries, including Ghana, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. It is one of the Manding languages and is most closely related to Bambara, being mutually intelligible with Bambara as well as Malinke. It is a trade language in West Africa and is spoken by millions of people, either as a first or second language. Similar to the other Mande languages, it uses tones. It may be written in the Latin, Arabic or N'Ko scripts. History Dyula is not an ethonym. The term used to distinguish Muslim traders from the non-Muslim population living in the same area, mainly Senufo agricultors. It comes from the Mandika languages and means "trader". It then became an exonym for Mandikan speaking traders such as the Bambara or the Mandinka and their languages. Later, the term was also used for a simplified version of Bambara, w ...
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Fula Language
Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that stretches across some 18 countries in West and Central Africa. Along with other related languages such as Serer and Wolof, it belongs to the Atlantic geographic group within Niger–Congo, and more specifically to the Senegambian branch. Unlike most Niger-Congo languages, Fula does not have tones. It is spoken as a first language by the Fula people ("Fulani", ff, Fulɓe, link=no) from the Senegambia region and Guinea to Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sudan and by related groups such as the Toucouleur people in the Senegal River Valley. It is also spoken as a second language by various peoples in the region, such as the Kirdi of northern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria. Nomenclature Several names are applied to the language, just as to the ...
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Karon Language
The Karon or KalɔɔnWilson, William André Auquier. 2007. ''Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification''. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. language is an endangered language of Senegal and Gambia. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family, and is particularly closely related to the Mlomp language. Karon is spoken in a coastal area north of the mouth of the Casamance River The Casamance River () flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about in length. However, only are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern port .... A person is called ''alɔɔn'' in the language, and speakers refer to their own language as ''kägup kɔlɔɔnay''. Phonology Consonants Vowels Advanced tongue root is marked with an acute accent /á/. References External links Karon entry in the UNESCO ...
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Flag Of The Gambia
The flag of the Gambia is the national flag of the Gambia. It consists of three horizontal red, blue and green bands separated by two thin white lines. Adopted in 1965 to replace the British Blue Ensign defaced with the arms of the Gambia Colony and Protectorate, it has been the flag of the Republic of the Gambia since the country gained independence that year. It remained unchanged throughout the Gambia's seven-year confederation with Senegal. History The British first arrived in what is now modern-day Gambia in 1661, when they conquered James Island. They proceeded to construct forts around the confluence of the Gambia River with the Atlantic Ocean, and gradually expanded their control upstream. This area became a protectorate in the 1820s under the jurisdiction of Sierra Leone, and eventually emerged as a separate crown colony of the United Kingdom within its colonial empire in 1888. This newfound status gave the Gambia its own "distinctive" colonial flag. This is be ...
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Soninke Language
The Soninke language (Soninke: ''Sooninkanxanne''), also known as Serakhulle or Azer is a Mande languages, Mande language spoken by the Soninke people of Africa. The language has an estimated 2.1 million speakers, primarily located in Mali, and also (in order of numerical importance of the communities) in Senegal, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Ghana. It enjoys the status of a national language in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. The language is relatively homogeneous, with only slight phonological, lexical, and grammatical variations. Linguistically, its nearest relatives is the Bozo language , which is centered on the Inner Niger Delta. It is possible that the language of the Imraguen people and/or the Nemadi dialect are dialects of, or closely related to, Soninke. Phonology Consonants Vowels Long vowels are written double: ''aa'', ''ee'', ''ii'', ''oo'', ''uu''. References External linksPanAfriL10n page on Soninke
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