Kiang (variant spelling: Kian) was a historical kingdom in what is now the West African state of The Gambia and also the name of the region it covered. The area is now the districts of Kiang Central, Kiang East, and Kiang West in the Lower River Division of the present-day country. The Kiang West National Park is also on the territory of the former empire.
The kingdom was one of nine Mandinka states on the southern bank of the Gambia River in the early 19th century. It stretched in the west from where the Bintang Bolong joins the Gambia to the east to the point known as Devil Point , around ten kilometers from Soma. It was separated from the Fogny Empire to the west by the Bintang Bolong. In the east it bordered on Jarra Empire .
The towns of Tankular and Tendaba were the main ports on the Gambia, where Europeans also traded.
The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland Africa and is surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the centre of The Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, and elucidates the long shape of the country. It has an area of 11,300 square kilometres (4,400 sq mi) with a population of 1,857,181 as of the April 2013 census. Banjul is the Gambian capital and the country's largest metropolitan area, while the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.
The first written records of the region come from French traders (barbers) in the 9th and 10th centuries. In medieval times, the region was dominated by the Trans-Saharan trade and was ruled by the Mali Empire. In the 16th century, the region came to be ruled by the Songhai Empire. The first Europeans to visit the Gambia River were the Portuguese in the 15th century, in 1447, who attempted to settle on the river banks, but no settlement of significant size was established. Descendants of the Portuguese settlers remained until the 18th century. In the late 16th century, English merchants attempted to begin a trade with the Gambia, reporting that it was "a river of secret trade and riches concealed by the Portuguese."
The Senegambia is, in the narrow sense, a historical name for a geographical region in West Africa, which lies between the Senegal River in the north and the Gambia River in the south. However, there are also text sources which state that Senegambia is understood in a broader sense and equated with the term the Western region. This refers to the coastal areas between Senegal and Sierra Leone, where the inland border in the east was not further defined.
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running 1,120 kilometres (700 mi) from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul. It is navigable for about half that length.
The Jolof Empire, also known as the Wolof or Wollof Empire, was a West African state that ruled parts of modern-day Senegal from 1350 to 1549. Following the 1549 battle of Danki, its vassal states were fully or de facto independent; in this period it is known as the Jolof Kingdom.
Alvise Cadamosto or Alvise da Ca' da Mosto was a Venetian explorer and slave trader, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator and undertook two known journeys to West Africa in 1455 and 1456, accompanied by the Genoese captain Antoniotto Usodimare. Cadamosto and his companions are credited with the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands and the points along the Guinea coast, from the Gambia River to the Geba River, the greatest leap in the Henrican discoveries since 1446. Cadamosto's accounts of his journeys, including his detailed observations of West African societies, have proven invaluable to historians.
The Wolof people are a West African ethnic group found in northwestern Senegal, the Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania. In Senegal, the Wolof are the largest ethnic group (~43.3%), while elsewhere they are a minority. They refer to themselves as Wolof and speak the Wolof language, in the West Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages.
Upper River was one of the five Divisions of the Gambia. Its capital was Basse Santa Su. It was subsequently reorganised as the Basse Local Government Area, without any change in the area covered.
The Gambia is subdivided into 43 districts. They are listed below by Local Government Area, each with its population at the 15 April 2013 census.
Kaabu (1537–1867), also written Gabu, Ngabou, and N'Gabu, was a federation of Mandinka kingdoms in the Senegambia region centered within modern northeastern Guinea-Bissau, large parts of today's Gambia, and extending into Koussanar, Koumpentoum, and the Casamance in Senegal.
Kiang Central is one of the six districts of the Lower River Division of the Gambia. Along with Kiang East and Kiang West, it makes up the Kiang area. In the 2013 census, it had a population of 8,366.
Kiang East is one of the six districts of the Lower River Division of the Gambia. Along with Kiang Central and Kiang West, it makes up the Kiang area. In the 2013 census, it had a population of 6,849.
Kiang West is one of the six districts of the Lower River Division of the Gambia. Along with Kiang Central and Kiang East, it makes up the Kiang area. In the 2013 census, it had a population of 14,953.
The wildlife of the Gambia is dictated by several habitat zones over the Gambia's land area of about 10,000 km2. It is bound in the south by the savanna and on the north by the Sudanian woodlands. The habitats host abundant indigenous plants and animals, in addition to migrant species and newly planted species. They vary widely and consist of the marine system, coastal zone, estuary with mangrove vegetation coupled with Banto Faros, river banks with brackish and fresh water zones, swamps covered with forests and many wetlands.
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. They are the third-largest ethnic group in Senegal, making up 15% of the Senegalese population. They are also found in northern Gambia and southern Mauritania.
Kiang West National Park is one of the largest and most important wildlife reserves in the Gambia. It was declared a national park in 1987 and is managed by the Gambia Department of Parks and Wildlife Management.
Bao BolongWetland Reserve is a national park in The Gambia. Established in 1996 it covers 220 square kilometres.
Kombo was a kingdom and later a chieftaincy in Gambia during the colonial period. Kombo was part of the Mali Empire and gained independence after its fall, and was then ruled by the Sambou Bainunka clan. Mansa Karapha Yalli Jatta became the first King of Kombo, after seeking help from the then independent Kaabu Empire to establish the Kingdom of Kombo, he married the daughter of the Bainuk Queen Wullending Jasseh of Sanyang who sits at Gunjur and took her to Busumbala. Mansa Karapha Yalli Jatta was from the Jatta (Lion) clan who claim ancestry from Sundiata Keita the first Emperor of the Mali Empire. Kombo was ruled by two families, the Jatta (Djatta) and Bojang (Bodian) clans, when one clan becomes Mansa, the other clan gets to choose the crown prince from their own clan and vice versa. From 1840-1855 Mansa Suling Jatta was the King of Kombo, he was killed in the Soninke-Marabout war, and most of the Jatta clan moved to other regions.
During the Second World War (1939–1945), the Gambia was part of the British Empire as the Gambia Colony and Protectorate. At the outbreak of war between the British Empire and Nazi Germany in September 1939, the Gambia was home to the Gambia Company of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF).
Sutukoba, sometimes referred to as Sutuko, is a village in The Gambia located in the Upper River Region, 332 km east of the capital Banjul and 38 km northeast of the regional capital Basse Santa Su. The population in 2013 was 3317.