As the name suggests, the country's borders follow the river Gambia and not much else.

顧名思義，甘比亞的邊界沿岡比亞河而建，其他地方並不寬廣。

And in spite of it being a European colonial invention, its people having a lot in common with the Senegalese.

儘管它是歐洲殖民者的發明，但其人民與塞內加爾人卻有很多共同之處。

And both nations leaders at one point actively wanting to unite, the Gambia are still an independent nation.

兩國領導人都曾一度積極希望統一，但甘比亞仍然是一個獨立國家。

Which raises the question, why?

這就提出了一個問題：為什麼？

Why does the Gambia exist as an independent state?

為什麼甘比亞作為一個獨立國家存在？

To begin, what's now the Gambia was in the 15th century a part of the Mali Empire.

首先，現在的甘比亞在 15 世紀曾是馬裡帝國的一部分。

Like many other African states at this time, Mali was visited by Europeans.

與當時許多其他非洲國家一樣，歐洲人也曾訪問過馬裡。

In this case, it was the Portuguese who quickly became an important trade partner.

在這種情況下，葡萄牙人很快成為重要的貿易伙伴。

However, Portugal was soon troubled with a spot of non-existence when it was conquered by Spain.

然而，當葡萄牙被西班牙征服後，它很快就陷入了無法生存的困境。

The Portuguese royal family in exile quickly sold the rights to trade with Gambia to England.

流亡的葡萄牙王室很快將與甘比亞的貿易權賣給了英國。

Which promptly began exploring the area and they built some forts along the mouth of the river, but the English presence there was minimal until the 18th century.

英國人迅速開始探索該地區，並在河口沿岸修建了一些堡壘，但直到 18 世紀，英國人在該地區的存在一直微乎其微。

At this point, England was now a part of the United Kingdom and the UK had a long-standing rivalry with France.

此時，英格蘭已成為英國的一部分，而英國與法國的競爭由來已久。

Which was also trying to monopolize trade in the region.

它還試圖壟斷該地區的貿易。

When the Seven Years War started, the British seized all of French Senegal.

七年戰爭爆發後，英國佔領了整個法屬塞內加爾。

This was reversed after Britain's defeat during the American Revolutionary War and Britain only retained the lands either side of the river.

在美國革命戰爭中英國戰敗後，這種情況發生了逆轉，英國只保留了河兩岸的土地。

And after the Napoleonic Wars were done, Britain was slightly confused about what to do with the region.

拿破崙戰爭結束後，英國對如何處理該地區略感困惑。

It had primarily been used for the export of slaves to the new world.

它主要用於向新世界出口奴隸。

But since that was on the decline, it seemed that the only reason for keeping the Gambia would be to annoy France.

但是，由於這種情況正在減少，保留甘比亞的唯一理由似乎就是惹惱法國。

As such, new plan, get rid of it.

是以，新的計劃是，擺脫它。

In the late 19th century, Britain and France discussed what Gambia would be swapped for.

19 世紀末，英國和法國討論用什麼來交換甘比亞。

In return for Britain abandoning the Gambia, France would renounce its claim to the north of Sierra Leone.

作為英國放棄甘比亞的回報，法國將放棄對塞拉利昂北部的主權要求。

This never happened though, because France soon found itself at war with Prussia.

但這並沒有發生，因為法國很快就發現自己與普魯士開戰了。

This mattered because one, the French were kind of busy and so didn't have much time to negotiate the transfer of these lands.

這很重要，因為第一，法國人有點忙，所以沒有太多時間就這些土地的轉讓進行談判。

And two, giving France a valuable port whilst it was at war with Prussia would be seen by those in Berlin as Britain giving its support to France.

其次，當法國與普魯士交戰時，給法國一個寶貴的港口，會被柏林人視為英國對法國的支持。

As such, no deal.

是以，不能達成協議。

After France's defeat and its changing government, another proposal was put forward.

法國戰敗、政府更迭之後，又有人提出了另一項建議。

The Gambia would merge with Senegal in return for France giving up the Ivory Coast.

甘比亞將與塞內加爾合併，以換取法國放棄象牙海岸。

This was a much better deal for Britain and so obviously the government was for the trade.

這對英國來說是一筆更好的交易，是以政府顯然是支持貿易的。

The problem was that France was still seen as a potential enemy and importantly, many feared that setting the precedent of just giving away a colony would mean that no one would want to invest in them.

問題在於，法國仍被視為潛在的敵人，更重要的是，許多人擔心，如果開創了將殖民地拱手相讓的先例，就意味著沒有人願意在殖民地投資。

As such, the Gambia remained under British control until its independence in 1965, half a decade after Senegal.

是以，甘比亞一直處於英國的控制之下，直到 1965 年才獲得獨立，比塞內加爾晚了半個世紀。

The new governments of these nations sought to build close ties and in the early 1980s, both formed the Senegambian Confederation.

這兩個國家的新政府尋求建立密切聯繫，並在 20 世紀 80 年代初成立了塞內加爾聯邦。

The problem was that while Senegal saw it as a bridge to unification, the Gambians saw it as an easy way of not having to pay for their own defense.

問題在於，塞內加爾認為這是通往統一的橋樑，而甘比亞人則認為這是不必支付本國國防費用的便捷途徑。

Both sides discussed further integration, but the Gambian government didn't want to lose their own power or give up their economic policy.

雙方討論了進一步融合的問題，但甘比亞政府不想失去自己的權力，也不想放棄自己的經濟政策。

And in 1989, Senegal withdrew from the Confederation.

1989 年，塞內加爾退出了聯盟。

And thereafter, the Gambia remains an independent nation.

此後，甘比亞仍然是一個獨立國家。

I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons.

希望你們喜歡這一集，特別感謝我的贊助人。

James Bizanette, Kelly Moneymaker, Sky Chappelle, Kautska, Andy McGee, Alex Schwinn, AF Firefly, Marcus Arsner, Spencer Lightfoot, Y and Hockey, Marvin Cassau, Captain Sidog, Boogaly Woogaly, Kamun, Winston Kewood, Gustav Swan, Khalid Al-Dawood, Maggie Patkowski, the McWapper, Anthony Beckett, calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard, Coppertone, Shuenin, Spinning Three Plates, Words About Books Podcast, Rod D. Martin, Jim Stromberg, Miss Izette, and Charles I.

James Bizanette、Kelly Moneymaker、Sky Chappelle、Kautska、Andy McGee、Alex Schwinn、AF Firefly、Marcus Arsner、Spencer Lightfoot、Y and Hockey、Marvin Cassau、Captain Sidog、Boogaly Woogaly、Kamun、Winston Kewood、Gustav Swan、Khalid Al-Dawood、Maggie Patkowski、the McWap