The road to independence and the republic

Independence was a process

Political change grew through workers’ organisation, newspapers, public debate and demands for representation. Edward Francis Small was an important early figure. The National Assembly’s history records Legislative Council elections in 1947 and the widening of representation that followed.

The political movement involved more people than any single leader. Parties and communities debated whose interests would be represented, including those of the countryside as well as Bathurst. Women’s experiences and work belong in that history even when formal political records give them less space.

Two dates, two constitutional changes

The PPP won the 1962 election and Dawda Kairaba Jawara led the government. The Gambia attained independence on 18 February 1965 as a constitutional monarchy. On 24 April 1970 it became a republic, with Jawara as president. Independence and becoming a republic are therefore different events.

The First Republic and regional cooperation

Jawara’s PPP won successive elections. A violent attempted coup in 1981 was defeated with Senegalese assistance. The countries subsequently formed the Senegambia Confederation, which operated during the 1980s and ended in 1989. Close regional connections did not result in a permanent single state.

A balanced account examines participation and institutional achievements alongside unequal power, economic pressures and criticism. Remembering independence is also an invitation to ask what equal citizenship should mean today.