Geography
The Gambia River runs a total length of . From the Fouta Djallon, it runs northwest into theCrossings
There are several bridges crossing the river. The largest and furthest downriver is theBolongs
Small tributaries on the lower stretches of the river are commonly referred to as ''bolongs'' or ''bolons.'' These include Sami Bolong dividing the northern halves of the Central River Division and Upper River Division, Bintang Bolong dividing the Lower River Division from the West Coast Division, as well as smaller bodies of water such as the Sofancama, Jurunku, Kutang, Nianji, and Sandugu bolongs.History
The earliest known inhabitants of the area along the Gambia river include the Jola people, Jola, the Balante, the Bainuk, and the Manjak people, Manjak. The Carthage, Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator may have reached the Gambia during his expedition in the fifth century BC. According to oral tradition, large numbers of Mandinka people, Mandinka immigrants from Mali led by Tiramakhan Traore, one of Sundiata Keita, Sundiata's top generals, came to the region in the 14th century. Some modern historians, however, posit that relatively few immigrants, primarily ''jula'' traders, instead led a gradual socio-cultural shift towards identification with the higher-status Mandinka ethnicity and the ruling Mali Empire. These ''jula'' made the Gambia an important part of the wider West African trade network, where salt, shellfish, iron, cloth, ivory, beeswax, gold, slaves, leather and more were exchanged as far as the Niger River and beyond. Alvise Cadamosto, a Venice, Venetian explorer working for the Portugal, Portuguese, became the first European to sail to the Gambia in 1455, referring to the river as the ''Gambra'' or ''Cambra''. Other sources from that period record names such as ''Guambea'', ''Guabu'', and ''Gambu'' (possibly a conflation, at the time or in later historiography, of the name of the river and the kingdom of Kaabu). While merchants of various European countries traded on the Gambia river for two centuries after Cadamosto, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was the first to establish a permanent base, on what they called Kunta Kinteh Island, St Andrew's Island in 1651. After taking control of the island and renaming it 'St James' in 1661, the English vied with the French for commercial domination of the river for the next century and a half. During this period, kingdoms along the river Gambia included Niumi (also known as Barra, Gambia, Barra), Niani, Kantora, Jimara, Kiang, Badibu, Fuladu, Tumana, and Kingdom of Wuli, Wuli, all of which have lent their names to districts of The Gambia today. Major trading posts on or near the river included Barra, Gambia, Barra, Albreda, Juffure, Kunta Kinteh Island, James Island (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Tendeba, Joar, MacCarthy Island, Fattatenda, and Sutukoba. Around the turn of the 18th century, the Scottish explorer Mungo Park (explorer), Mungo Park traveled up the Gambia twice on his way to the Niger River. The Anglo-French Convention of 1889 delimited the borders of the Gambia Protectorate and the colony of Senegal as being ten kilometers north and south of the river as far inland as Yarbutenda (near modern-day Koina), with a 10km radius to mark the eastern border measured from the center of town. The British therefore controlled the river as far as it was navigable by sea-going vessels. Though widely seen as temporary at the time, the borders set in 1889 have remained unchanged ever since.Flora and fauna
The aquatic fauna in the Gambia River Drainage basin, basin is closely associated with that of the Senegal River basin, and the two are usually combined under a single ecoregion known as the List of freshwater ecoregions in Africa and Madagascar#Nilo-Sudan, Senegal-Gambia Catchments. Although the species richness is moderately high, only three species of frogs and one fish are Endemism, endemic to this ecoregion. Oysters are harvested from the River Gambia by women and used to make oyster stew, a traditional dish in the cuisine of Gambia.Gallery
References
Bibliography
* Bühnen, Stephan. "Place Names as an Historical Source: An Introduction with Examples from Southern Senegambia and Germany." History in Africa, vol. 19, 1992. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3171995. * * Gray, J.M. (1940). History of the Gambia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * * * Wright, Donald R. "Beyond Migration and Conquest: Oral Traditions and Mandinka Ethnicity in Senegambia." History in Africa, vol. 12, 1985. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3171727. * Wright, Donald R. "Darbo Jula: The Role of a Mandinka Jula Clan in the Long-Distance Trade of the Gambia River and Its Hinterland." African Economic History, no. 3, 1977, pp. 33–45. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3601138. Accessed 27 Jul. 2022.External links
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