Gambian Americans

Charlie Davies	Alex Haley	Sanna Nyassi
Hopsin

Total population

(3,035 (2000 US census)
11,000 (Gambian-born, 2008-2012; American Community Survey Briefs) )

Languages

American English, Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Serer

Religion

Islam, Christianity

Related ethnic groups

African Americans, American groups of West Africa (Senegalese, etc.), English

Gambian Americans are Americans of Gambian descent. 3,035 Americans reported Gambian ancestry in the 2000 census. Additionally, during the Atlantic slave trade, many Africans from what is now Gambia were sold as slaves in the United States. Gambian immigrants include members of ethnic groups such as the Mandinka.

In modern times, Gambians have emigrated to the United States since the 1970s with the goal of entering into higher education. While many of these students returned home after completing their studies, others have set on the United States as a permanent residence, attracting friends and family to the country. Gambian communities exist in Chicago and Washington, DC. Most Gambians living in the United States are Muslim or Christian.

The first people from what is now Gambia arrived to the United States as slaves during the Atlantic slave trade. In 1588, the claimant to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato, sold exclusive trade rights on the Gambia River to English merchants (including the slave trade). Letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I confirmed the grant. So, the Gambia, since the sixteenth to nineteenth century, was an important slave port in Senegambia area (along with others as Saint Louis, the Goree Island, Bissau or Cachau), both for the United States and Latin America (Spanish bought many slaves to the English, French and Portuguese merchants). Therefore an important part of the slaves were, among others, of this part of Africa.

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