THE ROLE OF HISTORY IN THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAMBIA

History plays an important role in the making of any nation. All the ethnic groups that make up Gambia have migrated from different parts of West Africa and converged in this region of Africa. Most African countries that have passed through the excruciating and exploiting process of colonialism have rallied around history as a weapon of unity and integration in the attainment of statehood. Colonialism has given African countries its unique experience, identity and history of struggle for survival and liberation from the white man’s oppression and suppression. This paper therefore centres on the concept of history, immigration and peopling of The Gambia, the factors that facilitated immigration into The Gambia and how history contributed in the emergence and development of the country. In order to go into the distant past, a descriptive historical analysis method was adopted in the process of writing this treatise. Also the methodology adopted for this study is qualitative in nature, using documentary evidence and literatures from related materials on the subject of study. The study revealed that all the ethnic groups that make up The Gambia were foisted together by the colonialists who wanted to carve a niche for themselves. The author argues that history acts as referees in a nation’s cause and that since people are the fruits of their history, most things are achieved by teaching their own national history for citizenship, national consciousness, patriotism, and for the general development of their polity.