Gambia
Country in West Africa

The Gambia is a small West African country, bounded by Senegal, with a narrow Atlantic coastline. It's known for its diverse ecosystems around the central Gambia River. Abundant wildlife in its Kiang West National Park and Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve includes monkeys, hippos and rare birds. The capital, Banjul, and nearby Serekunda offer access to beaches running south from Bakau to Kololi.

Capital: Banjul
President: Yahya Jammeh
Official language: English

The flag of the Gambia consists of three horizontal red, blue and green bands separated by two thin white fimbriations. 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.

Unesco world heritage site

1. Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites

James Island and Related Sites present a testimony to the main periods and facets of the encounter between Africa and Europe along the River Gambia, a continuum stretching from pre-colonial and pre-slavery times to independence. The site is particularly significant for its relation to the beginning of the slave trade and its abolition. It also documents early access to the interior of Africa.

The first European settlers on the island came from Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a vassal state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, who also had other colonial possessions in the area, though the English Crown had previously granted the island to two separate companies in 1588 and 1618. In 1651, the settlers built a fort that they named Jacob Fort after Jacob Kettler, the Duke of Courland, and used it as a trade base. The Dutch briefly held the fort from 1659 until the Englishcaptured it in 1661; the Dutch formally ceded the fort to the English in 1664.
The English renamed the island James Island and the fort Fort James after James, the Duke of York, later King James II of England. The chartered Royal Adventurers in Africa Companyadministered the territory, which initially used it for the gold and ivory trade, and later in the slave trade. On 1 August 1669, the Company sublet the administration to the Gambia Adventurers. In 1684, the Royal African Company took over the Gambia's administration.
In 1695, the French captured Fort James after a battle with English sailors. In 1702, Fort James was definitively under British control. The fort was destroyed and rebuilt several times in this period, both in conflicts between the English and French and by pirates. On 13 June 1750 the Company of Merchants Trading in Africa assumed the administration of the Gambia. Between 1758 - 1779, the Gambia was part of British Senegambia

2. Stone Circles of Senegambia

The site consists of four large groups of stone circles that represent an extraordinary concentration of over 1,000 monuments in a band 100 km wide along some 350 km of the River Gambia. The four groups, Sine Ngayène, Wanar, Wassu and Kerbatch, cover 93 stone circles and numerous tumuli, burial mounds, some of which have been excavated to reveal material that suggest dates between 3rd century BC and 16th century AD. Together the stone circles of laterite pillars and their associated burial mounds present a vast sacred landscape created over more than 1,500 years. It reflects a prosperous, highly organized and lasting society.

The stone circles and other megaliths found in Senegal and Gambia are sometimes divided into four large sites: Sine Ngayene and Wanar in Senegal, and Wassu and Kerbatch in the Central River Region in Gambia. Researchers are not certain when these monuments were built, but the generally accepted range is between the third century B.C. and the sixteenth century A.D. Archaeologists have also found pottery sherds, human burials, and some grave goods and metals around the megalithic circles.[2] A small collection of these can be found in the British Museum's study collection that was donated by the colonial administrator Sir Richmond Palmer.[3] They include an iron bracelet and two spears.

Among these four main areas, there are approximately 29,000 stones, 17,000 monuments, and 2,000 individual sites. The monuments consist of what were originally upright blocks or pillars (some have collapsed), made of mostlylaterite with smooth surfaces. The monoliths are found in circles, double circles, isolated, or standing apart from circles (usually to the East) in rows or individually. These stones that are found standing apart outside the circles are called frontal stones. When there are frontal stones in two parallel, connected rows, they are called lyre-stones.[1]