Gambia vs Zambia

Why people mix them up

Change one letter and "Gambia" becomes "Zambia". Both are English-speaking African countries named after a river, both are former British colonies, and neither gets much attention outside the continent, so the names float around without a firm picture attached. On the ground they could hardly be more different: The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, a thin strip on the Atlantic coast, while Zambia is a large landlocked country deep in southern Africa.

How to tell them apart

• The Gambia is in West Africa, on the Atlantic; Zambia is in southern Africa with no coastline.
• Zambia is about 65 times bigger: roughly 752,000 km² against The Gambia's 11,300 km².
• The Gambia is surrounded on three sides by Senegal, its only neighbour; Zambia has eight neighbours, including DR Congo, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
• The Gambia's flag is red-blue-green horizontal stripes separated by thin white lines; Zambia's is green with an orange eagle and a block of red, black and orange stripes in the lower corner.
• The capitals are Banjul (The Gambia) and Lusaka (Zambia).
• The Gambia follows the Gambia River inland; Zambia takes its name from the Zambezi, which forms its southern border.

Memory hook

Gambia goes with the Gulf-side Atlantic in the west; Zambia goes with the Zambezi and Zimbabwe in the south. Z countries cluster together.

On the map

For The Gambia, find the westernmost bulge of Africa and locate Senegal; The Gambia is the tiny finger of land cutting into Senegal from the coast, and you will probably need to zoom in to tap it. For Zambia, go to the other end of the continent, find Zimbabwe above South Africa and tap the butterfly-shaped country just north of it, below DR Congo.