Geography of the Gambia


The Gambia is a very small and narrow African country with the border based on the Gambia River. The country is less than wide at its greatest width. The country's present boundaries were defined in 1889 after an agreement between the United Kingdom and France. It is often claimed by Gambians that the distance of the borders from the Gambia River corresponds to the area that British naval cannon of the time could reach from the river's channel. However, there is no historical evidence to support the story, and the border was actually delineated using careful surveying methods by the Franco-British boundary commission. The Gambia is almost an enclave of Senegal and is the smallest country on mainland Africa.

Terrain

The grassy flood plain of the Gambia river contains Guinean mangroves near the coast, and becomes West Sudanian savanna upriver inland.

Statistics

Location:
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and Senegal
Geographic coordinates:
Area:
total: 11,295 km2
land: 10,000 km2
water: 1,295 km2comparative: slightly less than Jamaica; slightly less than twice the size of Delaware
Land boundaries:
total: 749 km
border countries: Senegal 749 km
Coastline: 80 km
Maritime claims:
  • territorial sea:
  • contiguous zone:
  • exclusive fishing zone:
  • continental shelf: extent not specified
Climate: tropical; hot, rainy season ; cooler, dry season
Terrain: floodplain of the Gambia River, flanked by low hills
Elevation extremes:lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 mhighest point: at least 53 m according to The World Factbook and a 1966 map by U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency, 64 m based on SRTM data calculated by peakbagger.com between Sabi and the Senegalese village Vélingara, located in a sandstone plateau at the border with Senegal
Natural resources: fish, clay, silica sand, titanium, tin, zircon
Land use:
arable land: 43.48%
permanent crops: 0.49%
other: 56.03% Irrigated land: 50 km2 Total renewable water resources: 8 km3 Freshwater withdrawal :
total: 0.09 km3/yr
per capita: 65.77 m3/yr
Current issues: deforestation, desertification, prevalence of water-borne diseases, drought
Environment - party to international agreements on:

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of the Gambia, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.