Senegambia Confederation
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-25

Senegambia Confederation, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1010183 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Senegambia
#Former_countries_in_Africa
#Former_confederations
#West_African_countries
#History_of_Senegambia
#History_of_the_Gambia
#History_of_Senegal
#History_of_West_Africa
#Pan-Africanism
#States_and_territories_established_in_1982
Senegambia, officially the Senegambia Confederation, was a loose confederation in the late 20th century between the West African countries of Senegal and its neighbour 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.
The Senegambia Confederation should not be confused with the historic Senegambia region, generally shortened to the Senegambia.
As a political unit, Senegambia was created by duelling French and 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.
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 slaves.
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 Southern Secretary William Pitt to dispatch a British expeditionary force to capture French trading ...