The Gambia trade once it was outlawed in the 19th century.) Some of this history was popularised in the Alex Haley book and TV series "" which was set in the Gambia. The music of the Gambia is closely linked musically with that of its neighbour, Senegal, which surrounds its inland frontiers completely. It fuses popular Western music and dance, with "sabar", the traditional drumming and dance music of the Wolof and Serer people. The cuisine of the Gambia includes peanuts, rice, fish, meat, onions, tomatoes, cassava, chili peppers and oysters from the River Gambia that are harvested by women. In particular,
Wildlife of the Gambia soils of laterite formations. The local tree species include silk cotton "(Bombax costatum)", dry-zone mahogany "(Khaya Senagalensis)" in deeper soil areas and African rosewood "(Guibourtia coleosperma)". Short grasses and shrubs are seen thinly spread in the Sahelian habitats. The gallery forests (moisture forests), unlike the rainforest, thrive on groundwater and are integral to savannas. It is a rare habitat found only in Abuko Nature Reserve, Pirang Forest Park and in some stretches of the Gambia River with different set of species with some degree of overlap with rainforests. Urban habitat consists of numerous villages. The open areas in between have