S02E07 The Gambia Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast,  we’ll be talking about the Gambia, the smallest country on the African mainland. Cutting a small sliver out of the Western coastline of Senegal, the Gambia is one of just a handful of nations on earth to share a border with just one country. The entirety of the country surrounds its namesake the Gambia River, with the border running parallel to both banks of the river inland for about 250 km. Gambia’s population of around 2 million is largely impoverished. It’s GDP is ranked at 167th out of 188 countries around the world, and like much of West Africa, it’s history has been impacted heavily by the slave trade. Having gained its independence in 1965 from the British empire, the Gambia has come to rely on its growing reputation as a tourist destination, and recently made headlines following a political power struggle between presidential candidates.

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Switzerland . (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

Here are a few things you may want to read/watch more about:

• Of general interest are: “A History of the Gambia” (J. M. Grey), “The Gambia Colony and Protectorate: An Official Handbook” (Francis Bisset Archer), Access Gambia‘s history section, and the concisely titled “Gambia Its History Ancient Medieval And Modern Together With Geographical Geological And Ethnological Conditions And A Description Of The Birds , Beasts And Fishes Found Therein” (Henry Fenwick Reeve, 1913)
• The Voyage of Hanno the Navigator may have included the river Gambia
• The Stone Circles of Senegambia are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites (here is a video of them)
• Kenyaleng Kafo are associations of childless women who play a unique role in Gambian society
• Kankarang masks play a role in cermonies in Mandinka culture. As well as the photo below of the mask, you can watch this short tourist video from the Gambia, or this longer more professional piece from neighbouring Senegal (in French)

Photographs of Kenyaleng women in various roles, exhibiting distinctive dress

The Kankurang mask – associated with circumcision rituals

• Exploration on behalf of Portugal was carried out by Italian Luís de Cadamosto and Antoniotto Usodimare; a book about their voyage, including their troubles in the Gambia can be found on Google Books
• “The Impact of the slave trade on Africa” (Elikia M’bokolo, Le Monde Diplomatique, 1998) – the source of Luke’s quote
• “What was the Royal African Company?” – History.com
• “Travels to the Inland Parts of Africa” by Francis Moore is a 1730s book giving insight into the operations of the RAC at the time, as well as the practices and geography of the various tribes in the Gambia. It also includes a version of the story of Job ben Solomon
• Another source for this story is the original account by Thomas Bluett with the catchy title: “Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon, the High Priest of Boonda in Africa; Who was a Slave About Two Years in Maryland; and Afterwards Being Brought to England, was Set Free, and Sent to His Native Land in the Year 1734”
• Article VIII of the Treaty of Utrecht deals with the right of Britain to sell slaves to the Spanish colonies
• Kunta Kinteh Island (formerly James Island) is a popular tousist drawn, particularly because of the book (by Alex Haley) and TV series Roots (1977 series; 2016 remake)
• Videos of James Island from GCTN Africa and CNN Inside Africa

Map showing the fort on James Island/Kunta Kinteh Island from Juffreh, the Gambia

• An account of King Kementeng and the consolidation of the British colony can be found in the book above by Archer
• The ‘griot’ or ‘jali’ storytelling singers are an important cultural fixture in Gambian society, preserving music and folklore through generations, usually playing the ‘kora’. This tradition is spread throughout the former Mali Empire in West Africa: here is Prince Diabete talking about the tradition generally; and here Tata Dindin Jobarteh from the Gambia talks about his music
• Atlas Obscura article about the Gambia’s odd-shaped borders and the cannon-ball myth

The West African Frontier Force fought in the First World War

• “A Political History of the Gambia, 1816-1994” by Arnold Hughes and David Perfect  gives details about the approach to independence towards the modern day
• “How West Africa helped win World War II” (Kwei Quartey, Foreign Policy in Focus, 2012)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt – “Excerpts from the Press Conference for the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association” (February 5, 1944) – his observations from his visits to the Gambia
• “That Hell Hole of Yours” – article in American Heritage about FDR’s trip to Bathurst en route to the 1943 Casablanca Conference and his very critical impressions of colonialism
• Dawda Jawara, the first president of the Gambia, is a significant figure in its history

The original flag of the Gambia, which we all think is pretty terrible

• “Supranationalism in the African context: A critical look at past and
  present attempts at building supranational organisations in Africa” from the doctoral thesis of Babatunde Olaitan Fagbayibo, assessing the outcomes of the Senegambian confederation
• A Daily Observer retrospective (2015) on the 1981 coup; “Taylor’s Man Dies in Mali” (All Africa, 2013) report on the death of coup-leader Kokoi Sanyang and his relationship with Liberian dictator Charles Taylor

• “Gambia’s President declares Islamic statehood” – Al Jazeera 
• Mark quotes this article from Freedom Radio Gambia: “Gambia: Breaking News: Jammeh Is Sleeping Around With Women In Kanilai, While On His So Called Vacation!” – it’s quite partisan and inflammatory!
• Al Jazeera documentary interviewing President Jammeh about his claimed ability to cure AIDS… (YouTube)
• “Yahya Jammeh: The Loneliest Man Alive” – article in Pulse (Nigeria)
• “A Gambian village mourns its most famous son – a dictator in exile” – Lorraine Mallinder, The Irish Times, 2017, about Kanilai; The Guardian has an article on Jammeh agreeing to go into exile
• BBC clip on Gambian voting system using marbles

Music you heard was largely from field recordings by our friend Niall Ó Laoighaire (who is also responsible for most of the photos above, you may also want to listen to music from the following sources:

• “Born Musicians: Traditional Music in the Gambia”, 1984 documentary from the Repercussions series. (Directed by Geoffrey Haydon with narration and interviews by Sidia Jatta)
• Music from the ‘griot’ performance with the ‘kora’ instrument was from a show of jali Alagi MBye – there are many videos of MBye on YouTube, including this one “The Kora Story“

A massive thanks to John Keating and Lorraine Mounsey, two of the backers of our recent Kickstarter Campaign – thank you for making Season 2 possible. And special thanks this week to Niall Ó Laoighaire for his research in the Gambia, providing the photos above and some audio that you heard. Thanks too to our sponsor Hairy Baby, who in addition to making the funniest Irish-themed t-shirts, have also produced the official 80 Days shirt for our supporters. Find it by clicking here. You can get 10% off anything on www.hairybaby.com by using our promo code “80DAYS”.