Cape St. Mary
The Cape Cape St. Mary ( Portuguese Cabo de Santa Maria ), also shown on the maps as Cape Point , is located on the West African coast of Gambia and protrudes as the northernmost point of the Kombo-St. Mary Area in the mouth of the Gambia .
The cliffs at the fishing village Bakau are defined by iron-rich sand hills and reach a height of 20 meters. The mouth (estuary, also estuary ) of the Gambia is geologically about 20 kilometers wide with this point up to Jinnak Bolon in Senegal , making it the largest estuary in Africa . Through the mangrove forest in front of the island of St. Mary's Island , the Tanbi Wetland Complex , the river mouth visually narrows to just 4.8 kilometers.
The coastal waters off the Gambia and the river were explored by Portuguese sailors as the first Europeans in the 15th century. Like St. Mary's Island, the name Cape St. Mary goes back to the holiday of the Annunciation and is also the namesake of the Kombo-St. Mary Area . The area in which the small kingdom of Kombo lay until the 19th century .
See also
literature
- Ilona Horn: Gambia. Small vacation paradise in West Africa. 2nd updated edition. Horn Ilona Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-932084-19-5 .
Web links
Coordinates: 13 ° 29 ′ 20.8 " N , 16 ° 40 ′ 1.5" W.