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Modern day Banjul is on St Mary's (Banjul) Island in the estuary of the Gambia
River and first became known to Europeans in 1455 when Portuguese explorers
Antoniotti Usodimare and Luiz de Cadamosto navigated the Gambia River. Meeting
resistance from the locals they temporarily withdrew and later
sold trading rights on the Gambia River to the British in 1588
however others also had eyes on developing outposts there
including the short-lived Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, part
of the the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who established a fort on
nearby St. Andrew's Island and took control of parts of St. Mary's
Island in 1651.
In
1664 the embryonic colony was ceded to England. The French and
British continued to wrangle over trade in the area until it was
recognised as a British interest as part of the 1783 Treaty of
Paris. The British developed Banjul
(then named from 1816 as Bathurst after the 3rd Earl of Bathurst
having been known locally as Banjulo) as an alternative base to
James Island, 18 miles upstream, as it provided a better location from which to enforce the
abolition of the slave trade still practised by the French,
Spanish, Portuguese and Americans as well as securing other
British interests in the area. St Mary's Island itself was named
after the Portuguese for Santa Maria, its original
designation by early Portuguese explorers.
In 1821 Bathurst (Bangul)
was placed under the administration of the British Governor of
Sierra Leone however in
1843 the Gambia became a British Crown colony with its own
governor except for a brief period (1866-1888) when it was again
placed under the control of Sierra Leone. The colony was granted
full internal self-governance in 1963 becoming independent in 1965
with Bathurst reverting to its pre-colonial name in 1973 from the Mandinka word for "rope fibre", Bang julo ~ with rope making being
an early activity of its indigenous population. Today Banjul has a population of around 451,000
and operates as Gambia's seat of government and administrative
centre. Places of interest include the African Heritage Centre,
MacCarthy Square, Albert Market and the Gambia National Museum.
Banjul Profile: Banjul City Map
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Banjul Profile: Child Sponsor Gambia
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Banjul Profile: Gambia
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