Gambia under colonial rule, in government reports, 1881-1966

A colony described as an historical accident in political geography"', Gambia did not deliver the financial returns that its colonisers had hoped for and this led to its treatment as a bit of a problem, rather than a desriable asset. Whether left to the jurisdiction of the moribund Company of Merchants Trading in Africa, being treated as a bargaining chip in Anglo-French negotiations, or being run as an administrative off-shoot of Sierra Leone; Gambia was somewhat of an inconvenience to its colonisers. It was also too strategically important to be left in the hands of a military opponent as it was the gateway to more profitable colonies within Africa. Georgraphically difficult to defend, the garrisons there were demolished, abandoned, and rebuilt with monotonous regularity as the Gambia was buffeted by the ebb and flow of the power struggles of Europe. The colonial powers of Britain and France knew that any investment in Gambia might be lost to their European opponents the next time they lost control of it; so they held it out of neccessity but were relcutant to invest in its future. The Annual Departmental Reports relating to the Gambia are a complementary series to the earlier microform collection of Annual Reports of the Governor, Blue Books and Government Gazettes, titled Government Publications relating to the Gambia (EP Microform, 1975). For the purposes of organization, the departmental reports have been divided into nine sections; Administration, Finance, Judicial and Police, Natural Resources, Social Services, Transport and Public Works, Communications and Post Office Savings, Commerce and Miscellaneous. Within each section, departmental series have been organized in chronological order, prefaced by selected extraordinary reports and sessional papers of particular relevance, and followed by related sub-sections. relating to discrete collections, as well as more complete explanations of the functions and activities where titles are not self-explanatory. Introduction derived from an online guide to the microfilm edition by D.C. Dorward, Lecturer in African History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia