Statistics
Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and Senegal.
Geographic coordinates: 13°28′N 16°34′W / 13.467°N 16.567°W / 13.467; -16.567
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 12,295 km²
land: 10,000 km²
water: 1,295 km²
Area - comparative: slightly less than Jamaica; slightly less than twice the size of Delaware.
Land boundaries:
total: 740 km
border countries: Senegal 740 km
Coastline: 80 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 18 nmi (33.3 km; 20.7 mi)
continental shelf: not specified
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi)
territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)
Climate: tropical; hot, rainy season (June to November); cooler, dry season (November to May)
Terrain: flood plain of the Gambia river flanked by some low hills
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Red Rock 53 m
Natural resources: fish, clay, silica sand, titanium (rutile and ilmenite), tin, zircon
Land use:
arable land: 27.88%
permanent crops: 0.44%
other: 71.68% (2005)
Irrigated land: 20 km² (2003)
Natural hazards: drought (rainfall has dropped by 30% in the last 30 years)
Environment - current issues: deforestation; desertification; water-borne diseases prevalent
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Read more about this topic: Geography Of The Gambia
Famous quotes containing the word statistics:
“We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.”
—Günther Grass (b. 1927)
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts—for support rather than illumination.”
—Andrew Lang (1844–1912)
“O for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)