The Knights of St Peters and Paul Church last Friday, March 6 2008, organised a public lecture on the theme “The Gambia our home land” at the Gambia Pastoral Institute in Kanifing.

The lecture was aimed at providing participants with a brief overview of the geographical, historical and constitutional development of the country. Presenting the lecture, Thomas Senghore, a member of the church, said that it is important for people to know about the country no matter how small it is. He said the country is located on Longitude 16 degree West of the Greenwich and 13 degree North of latitude. With reference to this, he indicated that the time that the country is using is not accurate, noting that The Gambia should be an hour behind Greenwich.

He also spoke at length about the landscape of the country, the river and its importance to the sub region. Historically, Thomas dismissed claims that The Gambia had been under British colonialism for three hundred years. He discussed in detail the country’s contact with the outside world from 1455 when Alvisto Cadamosto, a Portuguese sailor visited the country. He also talked about the British and French struggle for control of the Gambian territory, as well as the founding of Bathurst and the numerous treaties signed between the local chiefs and the colonialists.

British occupation of The Gambia, to him, started in 1821 when the British parliament passed a bill recognising all lands in the world occupied by British merchants as belonging to the crown. On constitutional development, he dilated on the three important constitutional developments that took place in the country notably the Independence Constitution of 1964, the First Republican Constitution of 1970 and the Second Republican constitution of 1997. He also gave a synopsis of the country’s political development.