Banjul

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Banjul

Banjul (formerly Bathurst), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital of The Gambia

The Gambia

The Gambia commonly known as Gambia, is a country in West Africa. The Gambia is the smallest country in Africa, enclave by Senegal, and has a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
, and located within the division of the same name. The population of the city proper is only 34,828, with the Greater Banjul Area, which includes the City of Banjul and the Kanifing Municipal Council, at a population of 357,238 (2003 census). It is located on St Mary's Island (Banjul Island) where the Gambia River

Gambia River

The Gambia River is a major river in Africa, running 1,130 km from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul....
enters the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
.

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Banjul (formerly Bathurst), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital of The Gambia

The Gambia

Gambia River

The Gambia River is a major river in Africa, running 1,130 km from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul....
enters the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
to the north and bridges to the south.

History

In 1816, the British founded Banjul as a trading post and base for suppressing the slave

Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
trade. It was first named Bathurst after Henry Bathurst

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst , was the elder son of the Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst. He was educated at Eton from 1773 to 1778 and then at Christ Church, Oxford....
, the secretary of the British Colonial Office, but was changed to Banjul in 1973.

On July 22, 1994 Banjul was the scene of a bloodless military coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
in which President Dawda Jawara

Dawda Jawara

Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara was the first leader of The Gambia, serving first as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1970 and then as Heads of State of The Gambia from 1970 to 1994....
was overthrown and replaced by the country's current President Yahya Jammeh

Yahya Jammeh

Yahya Jammeh is the Heads of State of The Gambia of The Gambia. As chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council, he took control of the country in a bloodless military coup in July 1994, and was elected as President two years later, in September 1996....
. To commemorate this event, Arch 22

Arch 22

Arch 22 is a commemorative arch on the road into Banjul in The Gambia. It was built in 1996 to mark the military coup d'etat which over threw the democratically elected government, and saw the rise to power on 22 July 1994 of President Yahya Jammeh and his Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council....
was built as an entrance portal to the capital. The gate is 35 metres tall and the centre of an open square. It houses a textile

Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
museum

Museum

A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the purposes of education, study, and entertainment", as defined by the International Coun...
.

Attractions in the city include the Gambian National Museum, the Albert Market, Banjul State House, Banjul Court House, two cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
s and several major mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, ? . The word "mosque" in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated for Islamic worship, although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller, privately owned mosque and the larger, "collective" mosque ,...
s.

Economy

Banjul is the main urban area of The Gambia and is the country's economic and administrative centre including the Central Bank of The Gambia

Central Bank of The Gambia

The Central Bank of The Gambia is the central bank of Gambia. Its name is abbreviated to CBG. The bank is located in Banjul....
. As the fourth most densely populated country in Africa, The Gambia has more than one urban area. Peanut

Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume Fabaceae native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is an annual plant herbaceous plant growing to 30 to 50 cm tall....
processing is the country's principal industry, but beeswax

Beeswax

Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the Beehive of honey bees of the genus Apis. Worker bees have eight wax-producing mirror glands on the inner sides of the sternites on abdominal segments 4 to 7....
, palm wood

Arecaceae

Palm or Palmae or Panamea , the palm family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the Monocotyledon order, Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known Genus with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate climates....
, palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil is an edible Vegetable fats and oils derived from the fruit of the Arecaceae Elaeis oil palm. Previously the second-most widely produced edible oil, after soybean oil, 28 million tonnes were produced worldwide in 2004....
, and skins and hides are also shipped from its port. View of Banjul from Arch 22. The museum includes handwritten pages from the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
and explains a lot of Juju "magic".

Climate

Banjul has a hot climate all year round.

Transport

Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra

Barra, Gambia

Barra is the non-traditional name of Niumi, Gambia. Although Mandinka language-speaking Africans always referred to the state along the north bank of the Gambia River's estuary as Niumi, not everyone did....
. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport

Banjul International Airport

Banjul International Airport also known as Yundum international is the international airport of Banjul, capital of The Gambia.In 2004, the airport served 310,719 passengers....
. Banjul is on the Trans-West African Coastal Highway

Trans-West African Coastal Highway

The Trans-West African Coastal Highway is a transnational highway project to link 12 West African coastal nations, from Mauritania in the north-west of the region to Nigeria in the east, with feeder roads already existing to two landlocked countries, Mali and Burkina Faso....
connecting it to Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cap-Vert, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast. It is Senegal's largest city. Its position, on the western edge of Africa , is an advantageous departure point for trans-Atlantic and European trade; this fact aided its growth into a major regional seaport....
and Bissau

Bissau

Bissau is the Capital city of Guinea-Bissau. The city's borders are conterminous with the Bissau Autonomous Sector. In 2007, the city had an estimated population of 407,424 according to the Instituto Nacional de Estat?stica e Censos....
, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.

Districts

Banjul Division (Greater Banjul Area) is divided into two district

District

Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipality, or subdivisions of municipalities....
s:

Banjul
Kanifing
Kanifing

Kanifing is a city in the Banjul of The Gambia. It is located near Serrekunda, the largest city in the country. Kanifing is also one of the two districts of The Gambia in Banjul Division....

Twinned cities

Banjul is twinned

Town twinning

Town twinning, also known as sister cities, is a concept whereby towns or city in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links between their inhabitants....
with Grimsby

Grimsby

Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996....
in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
and Newark, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest City in New Jersey, and the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey. Newark has a population of 281,402, making it not only List of Municipalities in New Jersey but also the 65th List of United States cities by population Newark is also home to major corporations, such as Prudential Financial....
in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. Since 2003 Banjul has a fruitful citylink with the Belgian coastal town of Ostend.Cooperation is established in ICT-infrastructure for the B.C.C. and other projects fir capacity building. Ostend based humanitarian organisation Medios vzw is supporting the Female Surgical Ward if the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital. (mor info on http://stedenband.oostende.be) It is the destination of the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, a charity road rally.

Banjul

History

Economy

Climate

Transport

Districts

Twinned cities

See also

External links