Gambia
I’ve been travelling quite a bit recently, and not just to the usual haunts. So far this month I’ve been to a few big Senegalese cities and a foreign country. As usual, it’s been for work, work being a big hobby I have to occupy my time.
The first trip this month was to The Gambia. The Gambia is a foreign country that actually lies within Senegal. If you look on a map of the world, you will probably not even notice it. If you look closely at Senegal on a map of Africa might notice that there’s an area shaped like a worm jutting out of the center of the country. That’s the Gambia. There are approximately a million habitants of The Gambia and about a hundred Peace Corps volunteers, or, one per square mile.
As the crow flies, Banjul, the capital, is about a hundred and fifty miles away from my town. In a race to Banjul between myself and a crow, I would bet on the crow. Of course, the crow doesn’t have to wait in the garage two hours for a car to leave, doesn’t have to get out and walk to the border, doesn’t have to go through two sets of customs, doesn’t have to hire a taxi and drive a length down a “road”. If he did, though, I’d still bet on him. If the crow had to take a two hour ferry to cross a one mile stretch of the Gambia River, however I’d be inclined to bet on myself.
What can be said about Gambia as a country? It’s English-speaking. It’s green, and it rains there more so than up here, so there are palm trees everywhere, and the ground isn’t sand. It’s the poorest country on Earth that hasn’t been in a protracted civil war. Gambian teachers earn less than Senegalese maids. It’s a nice place for tourists, and the beaches and restaurants are nice. Also, the president has stated publicly that he can single-handedly cure AIDS. He’s used international criticism against him to launch a tirade against the West. Most Gambians believe him, though most Senegalese just shake their heads. “Why would he lie to us?” they say. Indeed.
The capital of The Gambia is a small town of 50,000, though most administrative functions are carried out in the suburbs, which are smaller. The US Embassy and PC headquarters are in Fajara, a sleepy tourist beach town that looks like it could be just about anywhere in the world. In bars you have a choice of Guinness or a local microbrew. Every year, the brewery throws a party for PC volunteers, who are their best customer.
The Gambia exists for pernicious reasons. In the 18th century the English and French were vying for control of the major waterways in west Africa. After a protracted conflict, the French ceded control of the Gambian River was for the strategically-located Goree Island, just off the coast of Dakar. Though only about a quarter of a square mile in area, Goree was then an important fortification, shipping and slave-trading post. Now it’s a UNESCO-protected site, with architecture reminiscent of southern France.
Gambia still exists for pernicious reasons. The brief union of the two countries in the 1980’s was dissolved after only a few years. Needless to say, politics and language were a factor, but not the only ones. Gambians feel that Senegalese are arrogant towards them, and the Senegalese feel that The Gambia is a nuisance. Both sides are right. Gambia’s chief port is much bigger than it should be- no surprise given that its customs are much lower than Senegal’s . Both Gambians and Senegalese make money engaging in arbitrage between the two countries. The Gambian government also generates a good deal of revenue charging Senegalese vehicles transport fees for traversing the country. Quite honestly, without red tape, The Gambia would have no economy. So in spite of good, logical reasons otherwise, the borders between the two countries are rather heavily regulated.
I’ve heard many political theorists state that from an economic perspective, African countries are too small. Still others state that they are too large, considering they consist of far too many adversarial ethnic groups. In either case, most argue that the current formations of African states are illogical and detrimental because their borders were arbitrarily drawn by Europeans. Such arguments are nonsense. Consider that the borders of every single country in the Americas are equally arbitrary, European constructions, their populations also ethnically mixed. Yet such arguments are not exclusively used to explain the political functionality or dysfunctionality of those countries.
Any way you slice the pie in Africa, you would run into the same problems. It would be impossible to create territories where ethnic groups are not intermixed, or even to separate adversarial groups, since they tend to be neighbors.
On the other hand, as of 2007, most Africans have developed rather strong national identities, based on common experiences within seemingly arbitrary borders. This is mainly soccer’s doing, but there are other shared experiences that count as well. Consider that all Senegalese are proud that their first president was a poet and Nobel laureate, and even that their capital was once the seat of a colonial empire. This has shaped national character as much as anything may. Any Senegalese can tell you what the difference between a Senegalese and an Ivoirian is. Ask anyone to describe Nigerians, and they’ll tell you in no uncertain terms.
National identities exist, and so must their national borders. The rationale of existence of Senegal and The Gambia is no lesser or greater than that of the United States and Canada. So why have African politics and African economies turned out the way they have?…
The first trip this month was to The Gambia. The Gambia is a foreign country that actually lies within Senegal. If you look on a map of the world, you will probably not even notice it. If you look closely at Senegal on a map of Africa might notice that there’s an area shaped like a worm jutting out of the center of the country. That’s the Gambia. There are approximately a million habitants of The Gambia and about a hundred Peace Corps volunteers, or, one per square mile.
As the crow flies, Banjul, the capital, is about a hundred and fifty miles away from my town. In a race to Banjul between myself and a crow, I would bet on the crow. Of course, the crow doesn’t have to wait in the garage two hours for a car to leave, doesn’t have to get out and walk to the border, doesn’t have to go through two sets of customs, doesn’t have to hire a taxi and drive a length down a “road”. If he did, though, I’d still bet on him. If the crow had to take a two hour ferry to cross a one mile stretch of the Gambia River, however I’d be inclined to bet on myself.
What can be said about Gambia as a country? It’s English-speaking. It’s green, and it rains there more so than up here, so there are palm trees everywhere, and the ground isn’t sand. It’s the poorest country on Earth that hasn’t been in a protracted civil war. Gambian teachers earn less than Senegalese maids. It’s a nice place for tourists, and the beaches and restaurants are nice. Also, the president has stated publicly that he can single-handedly cure AIDS. He’s used international criticism against him to launch a tirade against the West. Most Gambians believe him, though most Senegalese just shake their heads. “Why would he lie to us?” they say. Indeed.
The capital of The Gambia is a small town of 50,000, though most administrative functions are carried out in the suburbs, which are smaller. The US Embassy and PC headquarters are in Fajara, a sleepy tourist beach town that looks like it could be just about anywhere in the world. In bars you have a choice of Guinness or a local microbrew. Every year, the brewery throws a party for PC volunteers, who are their best customer.
The Gambia exists for pernicious reasons. In the 18th century the English and French were vying for control of the major waterways in west Africa. After a protracted conflict, the French ceded control of the Gambian River was for the strategically-located Goree Island, just off the coast of Dakar. Though only about a quarter of a square mile in area, Goree was then an important fortification, shipping and slave-trading post. Now it’s a UNESCO-protected site, with architecture reminiscent of southern France.
Gambia still exists for pernicious reasons. The brief union of the two countries in the 1980’s was dissolved after only a few years. Needless to say, politics and language were a factor, but not the only ones. Gambians feel that Senegalese are arrogant towards them, and the Senegalese feel that The Gambia is a nuisance. Both sides are right. Gambia’s chief port is much bigger than it should be- no surprise given that its customs are much lower than Senegal’s . Both Gambians and Senegalese make money engaging in arbitrage between the two countries. The Gambian government also generates a good deal of revenue charging Senegalese vehicles transport fees for traversing the country. Quite honestly, without red tape, The Gambia would have no economy. So in spite of good, logical reasons otherwise, the borders between the two countries are rather heavily regulated.
I’ve heard many political theorists state that from an economic perspective, African countries are too small. Still others state that they are too large, considering they consist of far too many adversarial ethnic groups. In either case, most argue that the current formations of African states are illogical and detrimental because their borders were arbitrarily drawn by Europeans. Such arguments are nonsense. Consider that the borders of every single country in the Americas are equally arbitrary, European constructions, their populations also ethnically mixed. Yet such arguments are not exclusively used to explain the political functionality or dysfunctionality of those countries.
Any way you slice the pie in Africa, you would run into the same problems. It would be impossible to create territories where ethnic groups are not intermixed, or even to separate adversarial groups, since they tend to be neighbors.
On the other hand, as of 2007, most Africans have developed rather strong national identities, based on common experiences within seemingly arbitrary borders. This is mainly soccer’s doing, but there are other shared experiences that count as well. Consider that all Senegalese are proud that their first president was a poet and Nobel laureate, and even that their capital was once the seat of a colonial empire. This has shaped national character as much as anything may. Any Senegalese can tell you what the difference between a Senegalese and an Ivoirian is. Ask anyone to describe Nigerians, and they’ll tell you in no uncertain terms.
National identities exist, and so must their national borders. The rationale of existence of Senegal and The Gambia is no lesser or greater than that of the United States and Canada. So why have African politics and African economies turned out the way they have?…
posted by Unknown at 5:52 AM
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