what do we know about the Gambia? / Script

This time, the Latvian Radio program “Diplomatic Lunch” visits Gambia, the smallest country on the African continent, whose name has been remembered by many Latvians since history, as the Gambia was one of the two colonies of the Duchy of Courland.

Heat, former colony of the Duchy of Courland and the land to which the aviator Herbert Sugar flew: such answers to the question to which the Gambia relates to them were given by people met on the streets of Riga.

The name Gambia rarely appears in the headlines, but it is known to every Latvian who studied at school about the Duchy of Courland and its colonies. By the way, in English the name of the country is unusual – The Gambia. One of the aims of the article was to keep the country from being confused with Zambia.

Temporary colonialism

The overseas property of the Duchy of Kurzeme and Zemgale in West Africa at the mouth of the Gambia River was a very short, insignificant and, in fact, unrelated period to Latvia. This was related to some Latvians, but not to Latvia as a country. The presence of the Duchy of Courland in the Gambia lasted from 1651 to 1660. The people of Kurzeme mainly worked on the islands in the mouth of the Gambia River, which was once also the largest transatlantic slave trade center.

The people of Kurzeme were the first Europeans to come there, but they also bought a small area in mainland Africa from local tribal leaders. It was later lost to the Dutch, ie with the help of Swedish mercenary pirates, it fell into the hands of a Dutch-owned Dutch East Indies company. By the way, it is considered to be the largest mega-corporation in human history.

The Duchy of Courland used the African colony for trade for less than a decade. Iron, amber, glass, salt and, of course, vodka were brought from Kurzeme. It was brought back by ivory, animal skins, spices, gold, palm oil and, of course, slaves.

Witch hunt

Today, the Gambia is the smallest country on the African continent, which gained independence from Great Britain in 1965.

The Gambia has only one neighboring country, Senegal. It literally surrounds the small Gambia, and from 1982 to 1989 it existed as a single country, Senegal.

From 1994 to 2017, the Gambia was ruled by a notorious regime rich in human rights abuses. The regime was so unpleasant that other countries in the world avoided cooperating with this large Muslim country of 2.3 million.

The regime not only regularly abducted, imprisoned and killed political opposition, journalists and gays, but even in 2009 officially sanctioned witch-hunts, which included abducting women from villages, drinking them with hallucinogens and “trying to reprimand”. As a result of the work of witch doctors, many women died from poisoning by substances that forced them to drink. Not to mention everything else they had to endure.

Vote with balls

Adam Barow, who has been educated in London since 2017, has been the president of the country, and by the way, he has worked as a shopkeeper to pay for his studies in London. He was inaugurated at the Gambian Embassy in its only neighboring country, Senegal.

The reason – Barov won fair and democratic elections, which former President Jay Jameh initially acknowledged and then thought he did not recognize. Fearing that he would be killed, Barova went to Senegal.

By the way, in the Gambia, a very unusual method of voting is used, because instead of our usual paper ballots, voters use small balls, which are thrown in the ballot box and then counted.

Former President Jameh now lives in a villa in Equatorial Guinea. Until recently, he was warned not to try to return to the Gambia because he could not and did not want to guarantee his safety. A number of criminal cases have been brought against him, including the misappropriation of EUR 45 million during more than 20 years of presidency.

Exports nuts

Although the population of the Gambia is about 400,000 larger than in Latvia, the entire Gambian economy is about eight times smaller than the current state budget of the Republic of Latvia. For example, the Gambia’s defense budget is only around EUR 12.5 million.

The Gambia’s largest trading partner is China, which accounts for about a third of both imports and exports. Re-exports are of paramount importance given the country’s geographical location.

The Gambia mainly produces and exports nuts, both cashews and peanuts. Also exports timber, fish oil and hides.

Peanut exports are the second largest source of money. Agriculture employs about 80 percent of the country’s population and accounts for about a third of GDP. Tourism is also an important sector in the Gambia, accounting for around 20% of GDP.

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