Kunta Kinteh Island

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Kunta Kinteh Island
until 2011 officially: "James Island"
Kunta Kinteh Island 2004
Kunta Kinteh Island 2004
Waters Gambia (river)
Geographical location 13 ° 19 '2.9 "  N , 16 ° 21' 41.4"  W Coordinates: 13 ° 19 '2.9 "  N , 16 ° 21' 41.4"  W.
Kunta Kinteh Island (Gambia)
Kunta Kinteh Island
surface 0.35 ha
Residents uninhabited
Kunta Kinteh Island 2008
Kunta Kinteh Island 2008

Kunta Kinteh Island (until 2011 James Island ) is a small inland island in the river (and land ) of Gambia with historical significance. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List . More than 15,000 tourists visit the island each year.

geography

Kunta Kinteh Island, with an area of ​​approximately 0.35 hectares, is located in the North Bank region in front of the Upper Nuimi district . The island is about 30 kilometers from the mouth of the river in the Atlantic Ocean and about five kilometers from the village of Juffure .

history

Fort James on James Island (1755)

The first Europeans to sail the Gambia River in the 16th century were the Portuguese ; they named the small island Isla de Andrea ( English St. Andrew's Island ), after a sailor they buried there.

In the 17th century, Duke Jakob Kettler from Courland wanted to build colonies on the Gambia River and in the southern Caribbean on Tobago in order to strengthen Courland economically. To this end, he had a branch built on the island, which is strategically located in the river and is now called Jacob's Island . From 1651 on, the Kurlanders used the island as a trading post until the Duke was captured by the Swedish during the Second Northern War in 1658 and the short period of Kurland colonialism came to an end.

The island was taken over by England in 1661 . The British gave the island in honor of their king James II. The name James Iceland . They first used them for the gold and ivory trade , and later for the slave trade . In 1695 the island was conquered by the French after a battle with British sailors . It was retaken in 1697, but taken again by the French in 1702. With the Peace of Paris of 1763 , Great Britain took over rule over Gambia and thus again over James Island. On February 18, 1965, the Gambia was admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations as a constitutional monarchy and converted into a republic within the Commonwealth on April 24, 1970.

James Island was renamed " Kunta Kinteh Island " on February 6, 2011 .

World Heritage

Since the island as a historical place documents the West African slave trade , it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003 . With Kunta Kinteh Island and related sites , seven objects were combined. Fort James fortress , which was located on James Island, is only partially present today. Parts of it were swept away by the tides, and you can see the remains of a wall on the core of the island.

Fiction

See also

Web links

Commons : Kunta Kinteh Island  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. James Island renamed - Daily Observer. (No longer available online.) In: The Daily Observer . archive.observer.gm, archived from the original on December 23, 2015 ; Retrieved December 20, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archive.observer.gm
  2. ^ Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites. whc.unesco.org, accessed May 5, 2015 .