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
West African Pidgin English its role as a creole native language spoken in and around the coastal slave castles and slave trading centers by people permanently based there. West African Pidgin English arose during the period when the British dominated the Atlantic slave trade in the late 17th and 18th centuries, ultimately exporting more slaves to the Americas than all the other European nations combined. During this period, English-speaking sailors and slave traders were in constant contact with native African peoples and long-distance traders along thousands of miles of West African coastline. Africans who picked up elements of pidgin English for purposes of trade