Janjanbureh
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name = Janjanbureh
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|image_skyline = RiverGambia Janjanbureh 20190122 Upstream.jpg
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|subdivision_name = {{Flag|The Gambia}}
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|subdivision_name1 = Central River Division
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Janjanbureh or Jangjangbureh is a town, founded in 1823, on Janjanbureh Island, also known as MacCarthy Island, in the Gambia River in eastern Gambia.{{Cite book|last=Gailey|first=Harry A.|title=A History of The Gambia|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|year=1964|location=London}}{{Cite book|last=Gray|first=J.M.|title=History of The Gambia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1940|location=Cambridge}} Until 1995, it was known as Georgetown and was the second largest town in the country. It is the capital of Janjanbureh Local Government Area (formerly the Central River Division), and the Janjanbureh district. The population of the Janjanbureh LGA was 127,333 at the 2013 population census.{{cite web | title=Distribution of Population by Gender and LGA | website=GBoS | date=2017-09-20 | url=https://www.gbosdata.org/topics/population-and-demography/distribution-of-population-by-gender-and-lga | access-date=2022-03-10 | archive-date=2023-03-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308020010/https://www.gbosdata.org/topics/population-and-demography/distribution-of-population-by-gender-and-lga | url-status=dead }}
History
MacCarthy Island, then known as Lemain Island, was purchased by the British captain Alexander Grant in 1823 in exchange for annual payments to Kolli Camara, the king of Lower Niani.{{cite web |title=Janjangbureh Island and Town |url=http://accessgambia.com/information/janjangbureh.html |website=Access Gambia |access-date=1 March 2024}} It was intended as a settlement for freed slaves."Georgetown". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Jan. 2012, https://www.britannica.com/place/Georgetown-The-Gambia. Accessed 29 July 2023. A dispute ensued when the colonists demanded labor from Niani, but the ruling Kamara clan sent an army instead, forcing the British to take refuge in their new fort. A counterattack on the Niani capital of Ndougousine failed, with the Mandinka capturing two cannons, but the island remained in British hands.{{cite book |last1=Traore |first1=Mamadou |editor1-last=Fall |editor1-first=Mamadou |editor2-last=Fall |editor2-first=Rokhaya |editor3-last=Mane |editor3-first=Mamadou |title=Bipolarisation du Senegal du XVIe - XVIIe siecle |date=2021 |publisher=HGS Editions |location=Dakar |page=304 |language=French |chapter=Les royaumes du Niani et du Wuli, des origines a la conquete coloniale}}
By the 1840s the trading post was doing steady business in hides, wax, and ivory; it was the furthest upriver post the colonial administration controlled. In 1880 the town had a population of 1263, of whom only one was a European.{{cite thesis |last=Glovsky |first=David |date=2020 |title=Belonging beyond boundaries : constructing a transnational community in a West African borderland |url=https://doi.org/doi:10.25335/4hjk-3y48 |type=PhD |chapter= |publisher= Michigan State University|docket= |oclc= |access-date=28 July 2023|page=96-7|doi=10.25335/4hjk-3y48 }}
Janjanbureh is the birthplace of the Yale University historian Lamin Sanneh.{{Cite news|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=2019-01-11|title=Lamin Sanneh, Scholar of Islam and Christianity, Dies at 76|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/obituaries/lamin-sanneh-dead.html|access-date=2020-06-09|issn=0362-4331}}
Janjanbureh today
The town is best known as home to Gambia's main prison. The Wassu stone circles, a major tourist attraction, lie 22 km northwest of Lamin Koto, on the north bank across from Janjanbureh.
The island is known locally as MacCarthy Island and is located in what used to be called MacCarthy Island Division. The island is accessed by bridge from the south bank, and small boat ferries or the government ferry from the north bank. In 1995, both the city of Georgetown and MacCarthy Island were renamed Janjanbureh respectively.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Climate
{{Weather box
| width = auto
| collapsed = yes
| metric first = yes
| single line = yes
| location = Janjanbureh (1991–2020)
| Jan high C = 34.9
| Feb high C = 37.3
| Mar high C = 39.4
| Apr high C = 40.6
| May high C = 40.1
| Jun high C = 37.2
| Jul high C = 33.3
| Aug high C = 32.0
| Sep high C = 32.3
| Oct high C = 34.3
| Nov high C = 36.1
| Dec high C = 35.3
| year high C = 36.1
| Jan mean C = 24.7
| Feb mean C = 27.0
| Mar mean C = 29.2
| Apr mean C = 31.0
| May mean C = 31.8
| Jun mean C = 30.8
| Jul mean C = 28.5
| Aug mean C = 27.7
| Sep mean C = 27.6
| Oct mean C = 28.6
| Nov mean C = 27.2
| Dec mean C = 25.2
| year mean C = 28.3
| Jan low C = 14.7
| Feb low C = 16.9
| Mar low C = 19.1
| Apr low C = 21.4
| May low C = 23.5
| Jun low C = 24.5
| Jul low C = 23.7
| Aug low C = 23.5
| Sep low C = 23.1
| Oct low C = 22.9
| Nov low C = 18.3
| Dec low C = 15.3
| year low C = 20.6
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 0.3
| Feb precipitation mm = 0.0
| Mar precipitation mm = 0.0
| Apr precipitation mm = 0.0
| May precipitation mm = 10.2
| Jun precipitation mm = 79.4
| Jul precipitation mm = 192.0
| Aug precipitation mm = 272.5
| Sep precipitation mm = 206.9
| Oct precipitation mm = 56.2
| Nov precipitation mm = 0.7
| Dec precipitation mm = 0.0
| year precipitation mm = 818.2
| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
| Jan precipitation days = 0.1
| Feb precipitation days = 0.0
| Mar precipitation days = 0.0
| Apr precipitation days = 0.0
| May precipitation days = 0.7
| Jun precipitation days = 4.9
| Jul precipitation days = 10.9
| Aug precipitation days = 15.3
| Sep precipitation days = 13.1
| Oct precipitation days = 4.2
| Nov precipitation days = 0.1
| Dec precipitation days = 0.0
| year precipitation days = 49.3
| source = NOAA{{cite web
|url = https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-1-WMO-Normals-9120/Gambia/CSV/JANJANBUREH_61700.csv
|title = World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991-2020 — Janjanbureh
|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
|access-date = January 4, 2024}}
}}
Gallery
{{Gallery
|width=160 |height=170
|align=center
|footer=Photos from Janjanbureh
|File:1014077-Georgetown ferry boat-The Gambia.jpg
|alt1=
|Jajanbureh ferry
|File:1014088-Georgetown slave house-The Gambia.jpg
|alt2=
|The slave house, a museum of the slave trade
|File:1014219-Hut at the Jangjangbureh Camp-The Gambia.jpg
|alt3=
|Hut at the Jangjangbureh Camp
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050403195825/http://www.nrs.gm/slaverytrailrevision.htm Information from "Slavery Trade of the Gambia"]
{{Sister project links|1= |auto= |collapsible= |display= |position= |style= |b=n |c=y |n=n |q=n |s=n |v=n |wikt=n |d=y |voy=y|commonscat=y}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Administrative divisions of the Gambia}}
Category:Central River Division
Category:Populated places established in 1832
Category:Populated places in the Gambia