Albreda

Albreda stands on the north bank of the Gambia River beside Juffure, in the old kingdom of Niumi. Opposite the settlement lies James Island, where European traders built a fort to control access to the river. Niumi's rulers dealt with rival European powers from their position on the bank, while the river carried goods and captive people between the interior and the Atlantic.

In 1681 the ruler of Niumi granted the French a site at Albreda, close to the English post on James Island. The French and British competed on the Gambia as their wars in Europe spread to West Africa. French forces seized and destroyed James Fort in 1695, and attacked it again in 1779; the neighbouring trading stations remained bound to the fortunes of Niumi as well as to those of their European sponsors.