The Gambia is a small country in West Africa. It is a long, thin strip of land along the Gambia River, and Senegal wraps around it on three sides; only the west side opens onto the Atlantic. The capital is Banjul. English is an official language there, from British colonial times, though people also speak local languages such as Mandinka and Wolof. The official name is The Gambia — with ‘The’, the way we say The Netherlands — though in everyday English people often drop it and just say Gambia. It is a proper name, so it takes a capital G. Though actually, students sometimes mix it up with Zambia, which is a different country far to the south.