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     Senegal     The Gambia

The Senegambia Confederation was a loose confederation between the West African countries of Senegal and its neighbour the Gambia, which is almost completely surrounded by Senegal. A confederation is a group of empowered states or communities usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. Senegal (le Sénégal officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. The confederation came into existence on 1 February 1982 following an agreement between the two countries signed on 12 December 1981. Events 1327 - Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 The federation was intended to promote cooperation between the two countries, but was dissolved by Senegal on 30 September 1989 when The Gambia refused to move closer toward union. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar)

Contents

History

Senegambia, as a political unit, was created by dueling French and English colonial forces in the region. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Competition in this region between the French and the English began in the 1500s when both started to establish trading centers in the region – with French trade centered on the Senegal River and in the Cape Verde region and English trade on the Gambia River (although there was some overlap in area of influence). The Sénégal River is a 1790 km long River in West Africa, that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania. The Republic of Cape Verde ( Portuguese: Cabo Verde, 'kabu 'veɾdɨ is a Republic located on an Archipelago in the Macaronesia The Gambia River is a major River in Africa, running 1130 km (700 miles from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward to the [1] This region became more important for both growing empires because West Africa allowed for a convenient way station for trade between Europe and their American colonies, and a warehouse for the African Slave Trade. West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America This article discusses systems of slavery within Africa the history and effects of the slavery trade upon Africa As colonialism became more and more lucrative, both France and England took greater measures to define their spheres of influence. From 1500 to 1758, the two powers used their naval power to try to remove each other from the region. Year 1758 ( MDCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common In 1758, the British were successful in capturing major French trading bases in the Senegal River area and formed the first Senegambia – a crown colony. The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories that are under the Sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom [1] The unified region collapsed in 1779, when the French recaptured Saint Louis and burned the major British settlement in The Gambia region, leading to the end of the unified region in 1783. Year 1779 ( MDCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal 's Saint-Louis Region Year 1783 ( MDCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or [1]

The Treaty of Versailles (1783) (signed along with the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the American Revolution) created the current Francophone-Anglophone balance in the region: Saint Louis, l’île de Gorée, and the Senegal River region were restored to France and The Gambia left to the British. The Peace of Paris (1783 was the set of treaties which ended the American Revolutionary War. The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, and approved by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, formally Île de Gorée (ie "Gorée Island" (pronounced /goʀe/ is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i [1] In the 1860s and 70s both nations began to consider a land trading proposal to unify the region, with the French trading another West African holding for The Gambia, but the exchange was never completed. [2] While the areas were in separate, competing hands, an official border between the French and British Senegambian colonies did not appear until 1889 when the French agreed to accept the current border between the two countries and remove its border trading posts. Year 1889 ( MDCCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common [2] This choice left the future Senegal (which gained its independence in 1960) and The Gambia (independent in 1965) with a large problem: how to successfully maintain two separate countries in a region with shared yet diverse cultural values and an international border which wedges one country into the middle of the other. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar.

Problems with Senegambia's border

For each country the lock and key border situation provides unique problems for international relations, especially in trade and control of regions surrounding the Senegal-Gambia border. For both countries one of the greatest problems is the ease with which violence could spread through the region. With shared ethnic communities on both sides of the border, a successful coup in one country could lead to a group of sympathizers in the other, bringing danger to the democratic regimes of both countries. This fear was made reality by the 1981 coup attempt to oust Present Jawara of The Gambia. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (born May 16, 1924) was the first leader of The Gambia, serving first as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970 and then as President [3] Senegal’s pro-Western stance increased its security worries since its neighboring countries might use either The Gambia, secessionists in the Casamance region (the region of Senegal south of the Gambian border), or other dissident groups to destabilize the Dakar government. Casamance ( Casamança) is the area of Senegal south of The Gambia including the Casamance River. For the Dakar Rally see Dakar Rally. For the Israeli submarine see INS Dakar. Special threats came from Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana, Mali, Ahmed Sekou Touré's Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Muammar al-Qaddafi's Libya. Kwame Nkrumah ( September 21, 1909 - April 27, 1972) was an influential 20th century advocate of Pan-Africanism, and the leader of The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast to the west Burkina Faso to the north Togo to the Mali, officially the Republic of Mali (République du Mali is a Landlocked nation in Western Africa. Ahmed Sékou Touré (var Ahmen Seku Ture) (January 9 1922--March 26 1984 was an African political leader and president of the Republic of Guinea Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea (pronounced /ˈgɪni/ République de Guinée is a country in West Africa, formerly known as French Guinea The Republic of Guinea-Bissau (ˈgɪni bɨˈsaʊ República da Guiné-Bissau ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɐ giˈnɛ biˈsau is a country in Western Africa, and one of the smallest Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi 1 (معمر القذافي) (born 7 June 1942) also known as Colonel Gaddafi Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab [4] While some of this worry was speculation on the part of the Dakar government, Senegal would later (towards the end of the Senegambia Confederation) have border skirmishes with Mauritania. [5] After the coup attempt, the government’s military forces were not adequate to stop, or prevent, political upheaval. Security of the region was becoming more and more difficult to secure.

Senegal was hurt economically by The Gambia through differences in international trade policy. Since the end of colonization, the Senegalese government maintained trade barriers which provided for preferential treatment for French goods imported into the country while The Gambia had virtually no trade barriers. The opposing trade policies fueled a large black market around the Senegal-Gambia border for cheaper manufactured goods into Senegal. [6] The black market also caused an export drain into The Gambia. The Senegalese government began to institute a delayed payment system with its groundnut (peanut) farms. The peanut, or Groundnut ( Arachis hypogaea) is a species in the Legume family Fabaceae native to South America, Mexico When farmers sold their harvest to Dakar, they would get a voucher, known as a chit, which they could turn into cash after a three-month waiting period[7] Not wanting to wait for the Senegalese marketing system to pay them, a larger number of farmers began to smuggle their goods to Banjul, where the Gambian government paid in cash; by 1990, estimates show that 20% of the Gambian groundnut market was from smuggled Senegalese crops. Smuggling, also known as trafficking, is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons past a point where prohibited such as out of a building into a Prison Banjul (formerly Bathurst officially the City of Banjul, is the Capital of The Gambia, and located within the division of the Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) [8]

Birth of the Confederation

In the short term, the Senegambia Confederation was a pragmatic union based on a mutual security interest. As previously mentioned, the Senegalese government had a fear of national instability caused by uprisings in either The Gambia or Casamance region. This fear nearly became reality on 30 July 1981 when Gambian leftists attempted a coup d’état against President Sir Dawda Jawara. Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara (born May 16, 1924) was the first leader of The Gambia, serving first as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970 and then as President At the request of President Jawara, the Senegalese army entered The Gambia and successfully put down the insurrection. [9] [3] However, this new possibility of forced regime change, so close to home for both Banjul and Dakar, promoted the unification ideas which had been developing in the region. Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of Senegal, was one of "les trois pères" ("the three fathers") of Negritude — a literary and ideologically socialist movement which encourages Africans throughout the Diaspora to embrace their shared culture. Sir Léopold Sédar Senghor ( 9 October 1906 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese Poet, politician and cultural theorist who [10] Senghor’s belief in Negritude not only informed a sense of the possibility of unification between Senegal and The Gambia, but it seems to have fostered the belief that it would happen as an organic process. [11] Senegal and The Gambia commissioned a United Nations report to study the possible plans and benefits of unification between the two countries in the 1960s. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 [12] Despite the short-lived union, the Senegambia Confederation was one of the longest-lived African unions of the period. Had it succeeded, it would not only have solved economic tensions between the neighboring countries, but also given new hope to the concept of Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africanism is a Sociopolitical World view, and Philosophy, as well as a movement which seeks to unify both Native Africans and those of

The Confederation's end

Throughout the integration process support came primarily from the two governments and their social elites; neither the Senegalese nor the Gambian publics were really interested in integration. [13] Once the threat of political instability began to dissipate, both sides began to move back to their traditional fears and stereotypes of the other. The Gambian government (and the Gambian people), once the coup began to seem like simply a historical fact, began to fear losing their own power and identity through Senegalese engulfment. [13] Hughes and Lewis, in their Senegambia analysis, list many problems with unions which often lead to failure, which this union shared. [14] In this context, one of the most salient is a pragmatic vs. an ideological foundation for union. Since the union was forged because of mutual security concerns, the Confederation’s momentum began to die once people at all levels of both Senegalese and Gambian government began to move back and move on. This situation is best exemplified in the unilateral removal of Senegalese troops from The Gambia once Senegal was threatened by Mauritania (see Sandwich Sovereignties above). [14] The main platform on which union had been forged marked the beginning of the end. The official end came on 23 August 1989, when President Diouf decided it was best that the Confederation be placed aside after fruitless talks on a customs union. Events 79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring on the feast day of Vulcan the Roman god of fire Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) [14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Richmond, Edmun B. “Senegambia and the Confederation: History, Expectations, and Disillusions. ” Journal of Third World Studies. 10. 2 (1993) p. 176
  2. ^ a b Richmond p. 177
  3. ^ a b Richmond p. 182
  4. ^ Hughes, Arnold and Lewis, Janet. “Beyond Francophonie?: The Senegambia Confederation in Retrospect. ” State and Society in Francophone Africa since Independence. Ed. Anthony Kirk-Greene and Daniel Bach. Oxford, England: St. Martin's Press, 1995. p. 230
  5. ^ Hughes and Lewis p. 239
  6. ^ Richmond p. 185
  7. ^ Richmond p. 186
  8. ^ Richmond pp. 185-6
  9. ^ Hughes and Lewis p. 228
  10. ^ Lawless, Laura K. “Negritude – La Négritude: Introduction to the Francophone literary movement known as la Négritude. ” French Language at About. com. About. com. 25 January 2006. http://french.about.com/library/bl-negritude.htm. paragraphs 1-2.
  11. ^ Hughes and Lewis p. 234
  12. ^ Hughes and Lewis p. 229; Richmond p. 178
  13. ^ a b Hughes and Lewis p. 236
  14. ^ a b c Hughes and Lewis p. 239
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