Gambia River Mouth

The Gambia opens into the Atlantic through a broad estuary, giving ships access to a river that carries commerce deep into the interior. In 1651 the king of Niumi granted the Duke of Courland land at Juffureh and an island upstream, where a fort was built. The English took the fort in 1661 and called its site James Island. Rival European powers fought over the river trade, including the sale of enslaved people. In 1826 the British built Fort Bullen at the river mouth to help suppress that trade.