Music of the Gambia for an international competition to produce an anthem (and flag) before independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. The Gambia, the smallest country in mainland Africa, is an independent coastal state along the River Gambia. It gained its separate identity as a colony of the United Kingdom while Senegal was a colony of France, but the two countries' traditional music are very much intertwined. Among Gambia's people, who together number some 1.728 million (2010), 42% are Mandinka, 18% Fula, 16% Wolof\Serer, 10% Jola and 9% Soninke, the remainder being 4% other African and 1% non-African (2003). 63% of Gambians live
Ahmadiyya in the Gambia independence, in Farafenni, in 1969. The first Ahmadi Muslim caliph to visit the Gambia was Caliph III, Mirza Nasir Ahmad, whose visit in 1970 was instrumental in the launch of the Nusrat Jahan Scheme which has been responsible for the establishment of a number of schools in the country. On May 1, 1970 the Caliph arrived in Banjul, for a five-day visit, as part of his tour of West Africa. As part of his visit the Gambia, the caliph met Dawda Jawara, the then President of the Gambia, and a number of other public figures. Before the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community