Queen Elizabeth II 25th Anniversary Coronation First Day Cover, The Gambia postmarked on April 15, 1978.
The Gambia
The smallest country in midland Africa, The Gambia stretches inland for about 300 miles in 15 to 20 mile strips of land on either side of the River Gambia. Beyond the mangroves, land near the river is flooded in the rainy season (June to October), and arid under the influence of the Harmattan, a dry northeasterly wind which blows between December and April. The average temperature is 80"F.
The Gambia's 375,000 people are of varied ethnic origin. The Fulani, mainly cattle owners; the Wolof, found near the coast; the Doyla making up 10 percent of the population; the Soninke, famous as long distance traders; and the Malinke (or Mandingo), the largest group. Unlike their more egalitarian neighbours, the Malinke claim a hereditary nobility from the rise in the 17th century of the Empire of Mali, most powerful of the African civilisations.
Contact with Europeans from 1455 bought three centuries of enslavement and deportation to the New World; a grim age most vividly described in the recent bestseller 'Roots', its opening chapters being set in 18th century Gambia. An estimated 20 million Africans were deported, about 15 percent of whom died on the Atlantic voyage. When the slave trade was finally outlawed, Britain established a naval base at the mouth of the Gambia River as a deterrent, and in 1816 founded the town of Bathurst, now the capital, Banjul. The Gambia became an independent republic within the Commonwealth in 1970.
The Gambia's Omnibus issue displays as supporters the Lion and the White Greyhound. The lion needs little introduction. It is found in open country, mainly south of the Sahara, and hunts by careful stalking and short charges, or even with some members of the pride driving game into an ambush laid by others. Although rarely maneaters, they cause considerable losses to communities by their skillful theft of cattle.
Used as a heraldic beast by Richard III, the White Greyhound acquired its association with Richmond when Henry VI granted it as a supporter to his half brother Edmund on the occasion of his becoming Duke of Richmond. Edmund was Henry VII's father, and the beast has remained with the royal family ever since, being used today in the badge of the Queen's Messengers.
