The Gambia less than wide at its widest point, with a total area of . About (11.5%) of the Gambia's area are covered by water. It is the smallest country on the African mainland. In comparative terms, the Gambia has a total area slightly less than that of the island of Jamaica. Senegal surrounds the Gambia on three sides, with of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean marking its western extremity. The present boundaries were defined in 1889 after an agreement between the United Kingdom and France. During the negotiations between the French and the British in Paris, the French initially gave the
Constitution of the Gambia Constitution of the Gambia The Constitution of The Gambia is the supreme law of The Gambia. The Gambia became a nation independent from the colonial rule of the British Empire in 1965 and adopted a constitution. The constitution was suspended by a military "coup d'état" in 1994. A revised constitution that came into effect in January 1997 then marked an official return to civilian control of the government, although the leader of the "coup", Yahya Jammeh, remained in power as President for another 20 years and exercised strong "de facto" personal control over the country. Following the presidential election of