The colony was the immediate area surrounding Bathurst (now Banjul), and the protectorate was the inland territory situated around the Gambia River, which was declared in 1894.

[1] Additionally, on numerous occasions the British government had attempted to exchange it with France for other territories, such as on the upper Niger River.

However, on its arrival in the area in 1891, the Boundary Commission was met with resistance by local leaders whose territories they were coming to divide.

The commission could nevertheless rely on British naval power: British ships bombed the town of Kansala to force the Gambians to back off, and according to the 1906 The Gambia Colony and Protectorate: An Official Handbook, men and guns from three warships landed on the riverbanks “as a hint of what the resisters had to expect in the event of any continued resistance.”[3] The colony ended in 1965 when The Gambia became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations,[4] with Dawda Jawara as Prime Minister.

Attempts were made to increase production of other goods for export: the Gambian Poultry Scheme pioneered by the Colonial Development Corporation aimed to produce twenty million eggs and one million lb of dressed poultry a year.

The conditions in The Gambia proved unfavourable and typhoid killed much of the chicken stock, drawing criticism to the corporation.

Dawda Jawara of the People's Progressive Party resigned as Minister of Education, triggering a Constitutional Conference arranged by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.