2356 GAMBIA - The map of the country

Located in West Africa, mostly surrounded by Senegal with a short strip of its coastline bordered with the Atlantic Ocean at its western end, the Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa. It is practically a narrow strip of land along the Gambia River, on either side of it, with less than 48km wide at its widest point, its borders following the meanders of the river. Its capital is Banjul (founded in 1816 by the British as a trading post and base for suppressing the slave trade), and the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.

1665 GAMBIA - Banjul

Even if it has only about 35,000 inhabitants, Banjul, formerly known as Bathurst, is the capital of the Gambia. Located on St Mary's Island (Banjul Island), where the Gambia River enters the Atlantic Ocean, it is connected to the mainland to the west and the rest of Greater Banjul Area via bridges. In 1651 Banjul was leased by The Duke of Courland and Semigallia (German: Herzog von Kurland und Semgallen) from the King of Kombo, as part of the Couronian colonization. In 1816, the British founded Banjul as a trading post and base for suppressing the slave trade.Attractions in the city include the Gambian National Museum, the Albert Market, Banjul State House, Banjul Court House, African Heritage Museum, two cathedrals and several major mosques.

1625 GAMBIA - A woman with a child

A variety of ethnic groups live in the Gambia, each preserving its own language and traditions, even if it has a population of only 1.8 million (2013). The Mandinka ethnicity is the largest, followed by the Fula, Wolof, Jola, Serahule, Serers, Manjago and the Bianunkas. The Krio people, locally known as Akus, constitute one of the smallest ethnic minorities in country. They are descendants of the Sierra Leone Creole people and have been traditionally concentrated in the capital. The traditional kind of clothing for Gambian women and men tends to be long and free flowing clothes. For women they tend to wear clothes down to their feet as well as up to their wrists. This is called a grandmuba which comes with an under garment called a malan which is a couple of metres of cloth which is wrapped around the waist as an underskirt.

1445 GAMBIA - "Black Ladies" by Uwe Ommer

Born in 1943 in Bergisch Gladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany), Uwe Ommer has been taking photos for as long as he can remember. In 1963, he came to live in Paris where he started working as a photographer’s assistant. His work was soon recognized and he began shooting fashion and advertising photos. In December 1995, he took on a personal challenge to make a worldwide family photo album, For four years, he crisscrossed the five continents with his Rolleiflex and his portable studio, creating a unique photographic record of the family at the dawn of the third millennium: 1,251 families photographed and interviewed (1000 Families: das Familienalbum des Planeten Erde / 1000 Families: the Family Album of Planet Earth - Taschen, Cologne, 2000). This postcard, depicting a woman from Gambia, is part of a photo album named Black Ladies (Taco, Berlin, 1987 / Taschen, Cologne, 1995).