10 Dalasis Independence

Issued to mark the tenth anniversary of Gambian independence, which came on February 18, 1965, when the country separated from Britain having long been considered too small and economically unviable to govern itself. The Colonial Office had resisted independence for years on precisely those grounds — Gambia, a narrow strip of territory almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, was seen by many as an administrative accident of the scramble for Africa rather than a coherent nation-state. It became independent anyway, and remained one of the few African nations of the period to do so without significant internal conflict.

The KM#16a designation distinguishes this silver striking from the cupro-nickel circulation issue.