The Gambia President Adama Barrow changed the name back to "Republic of The Gambia". Arab traders provided the first written accounts of the Gambia area in the ninth and tenth centuries. During the tenth century, Muslim merchants and scholars established communities in several West African commercial centres. Both groups established trans-Saharan trade routes, leading to a large export trade of local people as slaves, also gold and ivory, as well as imports of manufactured goods. By the 11th or 12th century, the rulers of kingdoms such as Takrur, a monarchy centred on the Senegal River just to the north, ancient Ghana and
National Library of The Gambia are stored in the library, which caters mainly to The Gambia and its history. The library offers an adult library, children's library, bulk school lending service, mobile and mailbox service. The library was originally operated by the British council till 1946 and was renamed to the National Library of The Gambia by 1971. The Gambia did not have any library on its own till 1962. Till then the library was the only one of its kind in the country other than the ones in schools, Government departments, missions houses and clubs. When the transfer took place, the library had a