Population and Settlement in the Gambia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5106609 |
|---|---|
| Authors | H Reginald Jarrett (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1948 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 633 |
| Publication date | 1948-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geographical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/211449 |
| OpenAlex | W2060584404 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
T HE slender strip of the Gambia stretches over 200 miles into the West African interior and lies almost wholly in the savanna belt of seasonal rains. The three natural regions into which it can be divided also run west to east along the river axis. They are the mangrove swamps; the banto faros,I developed on Pleistocene-Recent river alluvium; and the Eocene-Pliocene sandstone extension of the region that I call the Senegambian Tertiary Plateau. The banto faros can be subdivided into two divisions, an estuarine and an upper river. The boundary between them corresponds roughly to the upstream boundaries of North Bank and South Bank Provinces. The soils of the estuarine division are heavier than those of the upper, having a higher clay content, and during the rains (July-October) these lower-river banto faros are flooded with salt water. The saline flooding renders much of the area useless for agriculture. In the upper-river division the soils are lighter, loamier, and more fertile; and although these river flats too are inundated during the rains, it is with fresh water. The upper banto faros are, therefore, much more useful agriculturally, especially for the growing of rice. The soils of the plateau are light, sandy, lateritic, and of limited fertility. According to the I93I census, the total population of the Gambia was 199,520, of whom 14,370 lived on St. Mary's Island, chiefly in Bathurst,2 the only town of any real importance. In November, 1944, a census was taken in Bathurst alone, when 2I,I52 people were counted, and figures for 1946 show an increase in the population of the protectorate to 228,114. Seasonally the population is increased by the influx of strange farmers, migrants from neighboring French and Portuguese territory, who come in to grow groundnuts on the Gambian farm lands.3 Figure I shows the distribution of the villages; isolated dwellings are, of course, unknown. It will be noticed how settlement in the lower river
Archaeology · Business · Geography · Population · Settlement (finance · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Demography · Urban and Rural Development Challenges
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1981 - 2017 (37) |
| Highly cited | No |