We can’t make this up, and we wouldn’t want to, but there’s a hotel in The Gambia called “The Plantation Gambia Boutique Hotel.”
Owned by a Scottish couple, Nikki and Neil, The Plantation Gambia is a boutique hotel located in Brufut.
The hotel boasts that it offers a unique experience and vacation in the sun.
“An exotic alternative to experience the real Gambia, off the beaten track,” a statement on the hotel’s website reads. “Peace, relaxation, great food and service […] set in tropical gardens in an African village.”
The hotel adds that “our guests are our priority, arrive as guests and leave as friends.” Still, one can’t help to wonder did Nikki and Neil consider making Gambians a priority when they decided on using “the plantation” in the hotel’s name.
Europeans In The Gambia
In 1455, the Portuguese became the first Europeans to enter the Gambia River in a quest for gold. Instead of gold, the Portuguese found slaves—war captives that the Mandinka people were reportedly anxious to sell for firearms.
By the 1600s, the Portuguese, Spanish, and English were fully engaged in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and the region around the Gambia River is known to be one of the earliest sources of West African slaves.
They were taken to the mines of Mexico and the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. Nearly 5,000 slaves were shipped to America from the Gambia a year between the 17th and 18th centuries.
Backlash Over The Name
There has been some backlash over the hotel’s name since African Diaspora News Channel first reported it.
The hotel owners have not reached Travel Noire for comment regarding the name when this article was published.