According to the information I got from one of my high school teachers,
alias Master Sillah( a Gambia pioneer). He told us that Banjul used to be a
"Bamboo Island". The people used to go there to pick Bamboo stick during the
precolonial time. When the missionaries came to the island and found these
Bamboo stick pickers, they asked them what the name of the island was. The
indigenous people, who thought they were asked what they were doing
responded in Mandingo that they were picking Bamboo stick(Bamboo stick is
called Bongjuloow in Mandingo) and the name of the island was recorded as
Banjul. The indigenous people were then asked about the name of the region,
again they thought that they were being asked where were they taking the
Bamboo stick to, their respond was that they were taking them to
Kambi(Kambiya in Mandingo means to Gambi) and the name of the region was
recorded as Gambia. Kambi was a chief.
I do not know the authenticity of this story. It might just be entertaining,
because the man was a very entertaining storyteller. I hope you will find
some with an authentic version of the story.

Best Wishes,
Sainey Keita.


>From: "Touray, Maila" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The Gambia
>Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 17:09:10 -0400
>
>Can anybody answer the question, "why is our country named The Gambia?"
>
>Maila
>
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