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Gambia
Republic, W Africa. Constituting an enclave in Senegal, it lies along the Gambia River stretching inland 295 mi (475 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. Area: 4,127 sq mi (10,689 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 1,248,000. Capital: Banjul. About two-fifths of the population is Malinke, followed by Fulani (about one-fifth), Wolof (about one-seventh), and other groups. Language: English (official). Religion: Islam. Monetary unit: dalasi. Gambia is generally hilly and the climate subtropical, with savanna in the uplands and swamps in low-lying areas. It has a developing market economy based largely on the production and export of peanuts, though only about one-sixth of the country is arable. The river serves as a major transportation artery. Tourism is an important source of revenue. It is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state and government is the president. Beginning around the 13th cent. AD, the Wolof, Malinke, and Fulani peoples settled in different parts of what is now Gambia and established villages and then kingdoms in the region. European exploration began when the Portuguese sighted the Gambia River in 1455. In the 17th cent., when Britain and France both settled in the area, the British Ft. James, on an island about 20 mi (32 km) from the river's mouth, was an important collection point for the slave trade. In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles reserved the Gambia River for Britain. After the British abolished slavery in 1807, they built a fort at the mouth of the river to block the continuing slave trade. In 1889 Gambia's boundaries were agreed upon by Britain and France; the British declared a protectorate over the area in 1894. Independence was proclaimed in 1965, and Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1970. It formed a limited confederation with Senegal in 1982, which was dissolved in 1989. During the 1990s, the government was in turmoil.


Jainism
Religion of India established in the 6th cent. BC by Vardhamana, who was called Mahavira. Jainism's core belief is ahimsa, or noninjury to all living things. It was founded as a reaction against the Vedic religion, which required animal sacrifices. Jainism has no belief in a creator god, though there are a number of lesser deities for various aspects of life. Jains believe their religion is eternal and hold that it was revealed in stages by a number of Conquerors, of whom Mahavira was the 24th. Living as an ascetic, Mahavira preached the need for rigorous penance and self-denial as the means of perfecting human nature, escaping the cycle of rebirth, and attaining moksha, or liberation. Jains view karma as an invisible material substance that interferes with liberation and can only be dissolved through asceticism. By the end of the 1st cent. AD the Jains had split into two sects, each of which later developed its own canon of sacred writings: the Digambaras, who held that an adherent should own nothing, not even clothes, and ...

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