Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites
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How it came to be
A small island lies in the Gambia River about 30 kilometres from its mouth. In May 1456 a Portuguese expedition anchored off it and buried a sailor named André there, so it became St Andrew's Island. In mid-river, it commanded the waterway.
In 1651 settlers from the Duchy of Courland built a fort on the island. The Dutch took it in 1659 and the English captured it in 1661. The island became a place of encounter between Africa and Europe, and a base of the slave trade.
On the bank at Albreda are a Portuguese chapel and a colonial warehouse, and at Juffureh the Maurel Frères building. At the river mouth, the Six-Gun Battery of 1816 and Fort Bullen of 1826 were built to stop the slave trade. The site was inscribed in 2003.
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