Kunta Kinteh Island

Kunta Kinteh Island, formerly James Island, a tiny islet in the River Gambia, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site connected with the Atlantic slave trade. For centuries a strategic outpost fought over by European powers, it became a holding point in the trade in enslaved Africans. Now bearing the ruined walls of its old fort, eroded by the river, it was renamed in honour of the ancestor in Alex Haley's Roots, whose story drew the world's attention to this place. It is reached by boat and is visited as a place of remembrance, especially by people of the African diaspora.

History

The first record of Europeans at the island dates from May 1456, when a Portuguese expedition led by the Italians Alvise Cadamosto and Antoniotto Usodimare anchored here and buried a sailor named André, giving it the name St Andrew's Island. Its first European settlers came from the Duchy of Courland, a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who in 1651 built Jacob Fort, named after Duke Jacob Kettler, as a trading base; it had no water supply of its own and depended on the goodwill of the King of Barra. Later known as James Island and renamed in honour of Kunta Kinteh, it is a World Heritage Site for its place in the West African slave trade, together with related sites at Albreda, Juffureh and the mouth of the Gambia River (Wikipedia, Kunta Kinteh Island).

Highlights

• The fort ruins - the eroded walls on the tiny island.
• The slavery history - the story the island and the nearby museum tell.
• Albreda and Juffureh - the mainland villages and slavery museum.
• The river setting - the boat journey to the island.

When to go

November to February, the cool, dry season, for the most comfortable visit; the island and the related sites at Albreda and Juffureh, including the National Museum of the North Bank on slavery, are reached by boat.

What to expect

The island itself is small and much eroded, with only ruined fort walls remaining; what it holds is its history and setting rather than grand monuments.

Nearby

The mainland villages of Juffureh and Albreda and their museum are close by.