The Treaty of Versailles (1783) (signed along with the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the American Revolution) created a balance between France and Britain: Saint Louis, l'île de Gorée, and the Senegal River region were restored to France, and the Gambia was left to the British [REF].
This decision resulted in the future Senegal (which gained its independence in 1960) and The Gambia (independent in 1965) sharing a large problem: how to successfully maintain two separate countries in a region with shared yet diverse cultural values, and one nation virtually surrounded by another.