New historical research argues that The Gambia played a far greater role in shaping Atlantic trade, colonial rivalry, and the eventual decline of the transatlantic slave trade than conventional narratives suggest. Drawing on British and Portuguese archives, Bassène describes a coastal network he calls “Sierragambia,” stretching from the Gambia River through Casamance to Sierra Leone, which connected African societies through trade and diplomacy. Bassène contends that communities along this network actively negotiated, resisted, and influenced European powers rather than serving as passive participants in colonial history. He highlights a 1780 naval clash between French and British forces in which an alliance between British sailors and the Joola people proved decisive, illustrating African political agency long before the abolition of the slave trade. Bassène argues that recognizing this agency should reshape ongoing debates over reparations, moving beyond narratives that cast African societies solely as victims of European power.
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