Fort George (Gambia)
Fort George was a fortress on the inland island of Janjanbureh Island in the Gambia River in what is now the West African state of Gambia .
Captain Alexander Grant of the Royal African Corps formally took possession of the island on April 14, 1823 after signing the contract for the cession of the island on the same day. At the same time he gave the order to build a small fortress . The construction of the fortress, which was made of clay , took two weeks. On April 30, two small cannons were mounted on bastions , a flagpole with the Union Jack was erected and a salute was fired. The fort was christened "Fort George" and the island, which until then was known as Lemain Island , was renamed after MacCarthy Island .
This fort stood until 1827 when it was replaced by a newly built fort at the western end of the island. Sir Neil Campbell commissioned the construction of Fort Campbell, which was named after him .
In the following year it was decided to rebuild Fort George in the middle of the north shore of the island. The fort was 74 feet (= 22.56 meters) long, ten feet (= 3.05 meters) high, the walls were three feet (= 91 centimeters) thick. The corners were each equipped with a bastion. The place Georgetown, which today bears the name Janjanbureh , grew around the fortress over time .
It is not known until when the fort was used and whether remains have been preserved.
See also
literature
- ↑ JM Gray: A History Of The Gambia. Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., London 1940
- ^ William Fox: A Brief History of the Wesleyan Missions on the West Coast of Africa. Aylott and Jones, London 1851, online
Coordinates: 13 ° 32 ′ 34.4 " N , 14 ° 45 ′ 45.5" W.