Earliest written records of the area were when muslims traveled there and converted people to Islam and established a trade route for gold and ivory. Later the Portuguese landed there and dominated trade.

Later Portuguese sold trade rights to the English. France and England fought over control of the area. Soon slave trade in the area started.

The Gambia shares historical roots with many other west African nations in the slave trade, which was key to the establishment of a colony on the Gambia river, first by the Portuguese and later by the British.

Most of the slaves taken were sold by other Africans to Europeans; some were prisoners of intertribal wars; some were sold because of unpaid debts; while others were kidnapped. Traders initially sent slaves to Europe to work as servants until the market for labor expanded westward. In 1807, the British abolished slave trading throughout their Empire. They also tried, unsuccessfully, to end the slave trade in The Gambia.

An 1889 agreement with France established the present day boundaries of Gambia. Then Gambia became a British Crown Colony. Gambia received its own executive and legislative councils in 1901 and gradually progressed toward self-government. It passed a 1906 ordinance abolishing slavery. On April 24, 1970, The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth, with Prime Minister Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, as head of state. This made The Gambia the first and last British colony in West Africa.