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
Gambia Regiment defence. It was then decided that it should raise an additional reserve company. In 1937, the company won the Africa Cup of the Army Rifle Association, the first time it had been one by a RWAFF unit that was not from the Nigeria Regiment. In 1940, mention was first made of a Gambia Regiment FC that played against other local association football teams. In early 1940, with concern mounting about possible invasion of West African colonies by Vichy France, it was decided that the Gambia Company should be raised to the strength of a battalion, and renamed the Gambia Regiment.