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'{{Short description|Confederation of the West African countries of Senegal and the Gambia}} {{For|the geographical region|Senegambia}} {{Coord|14|40|N|17|2|W|type:country|display=title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox country | native_name = ''Confédération de Sénégambie'' | conventional_long_name = Senegambia Confederation | common_name = Senegambia | status = | status_text = | era = Cold War | p1 = Senegal | flag_p1 = Flag of Senegal.svg | p2 = The Gambia | flag_p2 = Flag of The Gambia.svg | s1 = Senegal | flag_s1 = Flag of Senegal.svg | s2 = The Gambia | flag_s2 = Flag of The Gambia.svg | image_flag = Flag of Senegal.svg | image_coat = | coat_alt = | symbol = | symbol_type = | image_map = Senegambia (orthographic projection).svg | image_map2 = LocationSenegambia.png | image_map2_caption = Location of Senegambia in Western Africa. {{legend|#00ccff|[[Senegal]]{{nbsp|6}}}} {{legend|red|[[The Gambia]]}} | national_motto = | national_anthem = | capital = [[Dakar]] (Senegal), [[Banjul]] (The Gambia) | common_languages = [[French language|French]]<br/>[[English language|English]]<br/>[[Wolof language|Wolof]]<br/>[[Serer language|Serer]]<br/>[[Mandinka language|Mandinka]]<br/>[[Fula language|Fulani]]<br/>[[Jola languages|Jola]] | government_type = [[Confederation]] | title_leader = [[List of presidents of Senegal|President]]<ref name="cia.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP86S00596R000200800001-0.pdf |title=Info |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref> | leader1 = [[Abdou Diouf]] | year_leader1 = 1982–1989 | title_representative = | representative1 = | year_representative1 = | title_deputy = Vice President<ref name="cia.gov"/> | deputy1 = [[Dawda Jawara]] | year_deputy1 = 1982–1989 | legislature = | event_pre = Agreement signed | date_pre = 12 December 1981 | date_start = 1 February | year_start = 1982 | year_end = 1989 | date_end = 30 September | stat_year1 = 1985 | stat_area1 = | stat_pop1 = 7,227,000 | currency = [[West African CFA franc|CFA franc]], [[Gambian dalasi|dalasi]] | footnotes = | demonym = | area_km2 = 207401 | area_rank = | GDP_PPP = | GDP_PPP_year = | HDI = | HDI_year = | today = | image_flag2 = Flag of The Gambia.svg }} {{History of the Gambia}} '''Senegambia''', officially the '''Senegambia Confederation''', was a loose [[confederation]] in the late 20th century between the [[West Africa]]n countries of [[Senegal]] and its neighbour [[The Gambia|the Gambia]], which is almost completely surrounded by Senegal. The confederation was founded on 1 February 1982 following an agreement between the two countries signed on 12 December 1981. It was intended to promote cooperation between the two countries, but was dissolved by Senegal on 30 September 1989 after the Gambia refused to move closer toward union.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hughes|first=Arnold|date=1992|title=The collapse of the Senegambian confederation|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14662049208447632|journal=The Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics|volume=30|issue=2|pages=200–222|doi=10.1080/14662049208447632|issn=0306-3631}}</ref> The Senegambia Confederation should not be confused with the historic [[Senegambia|Senegambia region]], generally shortened to ''the Senegambia''. ==History== {{Main|Senegambia}} As a political unit, Senegambia was created by duelling [[Kingdom of France|French]] and [[Kingdom of England|English]] colonial forces in the region. Competition between the French and English started in the late 16th century when merchants from both nations started to establish trading centres in the region. Although there was some overlap in their areas of influence, French trade centred on the [[Senegal River]] and the [[Cap-Vert]] region and English trade on the [[Gambia River]].<ref name="Richmond 176">{{cite journal |last=Richmond |first=Edmun B. |title=Senegambia and the Confederation: History, Expectations, and Disillusions |journal=Journal of Third World Studies |volume=10 |issue=2 |year=1993 |pages=172–194 [p. 176] }}</ref> As European trading activities in the region intensified, Senegambia quickly became a major African center of the Atlantic [[triangular trade]], with merchants from Europe bringing manufactured goods to trade for [[gold]], [[ivory]] and [[Atlantic slave trade|slaves]].<ref name="Richmond 176" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPb_dJyR5C4C&q=the+gambia+a+waystation+for+the+atlantic+slave+trade|title=The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction|isbn=978-0-19-960541-5|last1=Jackson|first1=Ashley|date=30 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hughes|first=Arnold|title=Beyond Francophonie? The Senegambia confederation in retrospect|publisher=Palgrave, Macmillan, London|year=1995|isbn=978-1-349-23828-6|pages=P 228–243}}</ref> During various periods of conflict between the British and the French in the 18th century, the trading posts of both nations in Senegambia quickly became military targets. During the [[Seven Years' War]], American merchant [[Thomas Cumming]] convinced [[Secretary of State for the Southern Department|Southern Secretary]] [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] to dispatch a British expeditionary force to [[British Capture of Senegal|capture French trading posts]] in Senegal; after the expedition was successful, the region under British occupation was transformed into the [[crown colony]] of Senegambia.<ref name="Richmond 176"/> The unified region collapsed in 1779. With the British occupied by the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] in North America, the French recaptured [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint Louis]] and destroyed the largest British trading post in the Gambia region. The unified region ended officially in 1783 in the aftermath of the British defeat by and independence of the United States.<ref name="Richmond 176" /> The [[Treaty of Versailles (1783)|Treaty of Versailles]] (signed along with the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] that officially ended the American War of Independence) created a balance between France and Britain: [[Saint Louis, Senegal|Saint Louis]], [[Gorée|l'île de Gorée]] and the Senegal River region were restored to France, and the Gambia was left to the British.<ref name="Richmond 176"/> In the 1860s and 1870s, 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.<ref name="Richmond 177">Richmond p. 177</ref> Although the areas were ruled by separate, competing powers, they did not determine an official border between the French and British Senegambian colonies until 1889. At the time, France agreed to accept the current border between the two countries and remove its border trading posts.<ref name="Richmond 177"/> This decision resulted in the future Senegal (which gained its independence from France in 1960) and the Gambia (which gained independence from Britain in 1965) sharing a large problem: how to successfully maintain two separate countries in a region with shared yet diverse cultural values, and one nation virtually surrounded by another.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Download Space — Search — The Gambia-Senegal Border: Issues in Regional Integration|url=https://download-space.com/download/book/The%20Gambia-Senegal%20Border:%20Issues%20in%20Regional%20Integration.html?aff.id=11556&dp=5ecad5d00a5df400017b82f0|website=download-space.com|access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref> ==Borders== For each country, the "lock and key" border situation has posed unique problems for international relations, especially in trade and control of regions surrounding the Senegal–Gambia border. One of the greatest problems for both countries 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.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Senegambia {{!}} confederation, Africa|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Senegambia-confederation-Africa|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref> This fear was realized during the 1981 coup attempt to oust President [[Dawda Jawara]] of the Gambia.<ref name="Richmond 182">Richmond p. 182</ref> Senegal's pro-Western stance increased its security worries since its neighbouring countries might use the Gambia, secessionists in the [[Casamance]] region (the region of Senegal south of the Gambian border), or other dissident groups to destabilize the Senegalese government. Specific threats came from [[Kwame Nkrumah]]'s [[Ghana]], [[Moussa Traoré]]'s [[Mali]], [[Ahmed Sékou Touré]]'s [[Guinea]], [[João Bernardo Vieira]]'s [[Guinea-Bissau]], and [[Muammar al-Gaddafi]]'s [[Libya]].<ref name="Hughes and Lewis 230">{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Arnold |last2=Lewis |first2=Janet |chapter=Beyond Francophonie?: The Senegambia Confederation in Retrospect |title=State and Society in Francophone Africa since Independence |editor-first=Anthony |editor-last=Kirk-Greene |editor1-link = Anthony Kirk-Greene |editor2-first=Daniel |editor2-last=Bach |location=Oxford, England |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-312-12112-1 |page=230 }}</ref> While the Senegalese government speculated about some dangers, in the late 1980s it had border skirmishes with Mauritania.<ref name="Hughes and Lewis 239">Hughes and Lewis p. 239</ref> After the coup attempt, the government realized that its military forces were not adequate to stop or prevent, political upheaval. Security of the region was becoming more and more difficult to maintain.<ref name=":1" /> Since the end of colonization, the Senegalese government had maintained trade barriers that provided 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, which brought cheaper manufactured goods into Senegal.<ref>Richmond p. 185</ref> The [[black market]] also attracted an export drain into the Gambia. The Senegalese government began to institute a delayed payment system with its groundnut ([[peanut]]) farms. When farmers sold their harvest to the Senegalese government, they would get a voucher, known as a chit, which they could turn into cash after a three-month waiting period.<ref>Richmond p.186</ref> Not wanting to wait for the Senegalese marketing system to pay them, more 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.<ref>Richmond pp.185–6</ref> ==Birth of the Confederation== In the short term, the Senegambia Confederation was a pragmatic union based on a mutual security interest. As noted, the Senegalese government feared national instability caused by uprisings in either the Gambia or the Casamance region. This fear nearly became reality on 30 July 1981 when Gambian leftists attempted a [[1981 Gambian coup d'état attempt|coup d'état]]. At the request of President Jawara, the Senegalese army entered the Gambia and put down the insurrection.<ref name="Richmond 182"/><ref>Hughes and Lewis p. 228</ref> The attempted coup resulted in both countries' leaders promoting the unification ideas which had been developing in the region. [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]], first President of Senegal, was one of "{{lang|fr|les trois pères}}" ("the three fathers") of [[Negritude]]—a literary and ideologically socialist movement of pan-Africanism, encouraging Africans throughout the Diaspora to embrace their shared culture.<ref>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.</ref> Senghor's belief in Negritude informed the possibility of unification between Senegal and the Gambia, and fostered the belief that unification would happen as an organic process.<ref>Hughes and Lewis p.234</ref> In the 1960s, Senegal and the Gambia commissioned a [[United Nations]] report to study the possible plans and benefits of unification between the two countries.<ref>Hughes and Lewis p. 229; Richmond p.178</ref> The eight-year Senegambia Confederation was one of the longest-lived African unions of the period.<ref name=":0" /> ==End of the Confederation== Throughout the integration process, support came primarily from the two governments and their social elites; neither the Senegalese nor the Gambian people at large were particularly interested in integration.<ref name="HL 236">Hughes and Lewis p. 236</ref> 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) began to fear losing their own power and identity through Senegalese engulfment.<ref name="HL 236"/> Hughes and Lewis, in their Senegambia analysis, list many problems with unions which often lead to failure, which this union shared.<ref name="HL 239">Hughes and Lewis p.239</ref> According to Arnold Hughes, the Gambians had two primary concerns: one was a reluctance to fully integrate economically, and the other worried that the Senegalese would opt for a unitary Senegambian state rather than a confederation.<ref name=":0" /> The union had both pragmatic and ideological elements. Because it was created in response to security concerns, when that threat was believed finished, the confederation's momentum began to die. Senegal unilaterally pulled out its troops from the Gambia when it was threatened by Mauritania (see [[Senegambia Confederation#Borders|Borders]] above).<ref name="HL 239"/> Gambia felt its interests were not being protected. The main platform on which union had been built was also the element on which it foundered. The end came on 23 August 1989, when President Diouf decided it was best that the confederation be placed aside after fruitless talks about a [[customs union]].<ref name="HL 239"/> As the confederation had economically benefited Senegal's [[Casamance]] region, its end resulted in worsening the living conditions of the local population. This helped militant separatists, most importantly the [[Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance]], to grow in strength and thus partially contributed to the outbreak of the armed [[Casamance conflict]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |title= Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World |year=2002 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |page=399}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * Lucie Colvin Phillips. 1991. "The Senegambia Confederation." in ''[https://products.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=D5527C The Political Economy of Senegal Under Structural Adjustment]'', edited by Christopher L. Delgado and Sidi Jammeh. ABC-CLIO. * Nicodemus Fru Awasom. 2010. “The Sene-Gambia in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” in Nation-States and the Challenges of Regional Integration in West Africa. * Nicodemus Fru Awasom. 2003–2004. "Anglo-Saxonism and Gallicism in Nation Building in Africa: The Case of Bilingual Cameroon and the Senegambia Confederation in Historical and Contemporary Perspective." Afrika Zamani, nos. 11 & 12, * Aka, Philip C. 2017. "[https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/calwi47&id=135&collection=journals&index= The Continued Search for Appropriate Structures for Governance and Development in Africa in the 21st Century: The Senegambia Confederation in Historical and Comparative Perspective]." ''California Western International Law Journal.'' * Jeggan Colley Senghor. 2008. ''[https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Politics_of_Senegambian_Integration.html?id=7ULkSTC4suEC The Politics of Senegambian Integration, 1958–1994]''. Peter Lang. * Arnold Hughes and David Perfect. 2006. ''Political History of the Gambia, 1816–1994''. University of Rochester Press. == External links == {{Wikisource-inline|Confederal Document of Senegambia}} {{Gambia topics}} {{Senegal topics}} {{Senegal year nav}} {{Years in the Gambia}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Senegambia|.]] [[Category:Former countries in Africa]] [[Category:Former confederations]] [[Category:West African countries]] [[Category:History of Senegambia| 01]] [[Category:History of the Gambia]] [[Category:History of Senegal]] [[Category:History of West Africa]] [[Category:Pan-Africanism]] [[Category:States and territories established in 1982]] [[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1989]] [[Category:1982 establishments in Senegal]] [[Category:1989 disestablishments in Senegal]] [[Category:1982 establishments in the Gambia]] [[Category:1989 disestablishments in the Gambia]] [[Category:1982 establishments in Africa]] [[Category:1989 disestablishments in Africa]] [[Category:20th-century military alliances]] [[Category:The Gambia–Senegal relations]] [[Category:Former countries of the Cold War]]'