Editing Banjul (section)

==History==
[[File:1824 Bathurst Sketch.png|thumb|left|A sketch of Bathurst, published in 1824]]

[[File:Senior Medical Officers' quarters in Bathurst, Gambia. Photo Wellcome V0029239.jpg|thumb|left|Senior Medical Officers' quarters in Bathurst, Gambia. Photograph, c. 1911.]]

[[File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-8321160-bathurst.jpg|thumb|left|Bathurst [Banjul] 1:2,500 (6.6 MB) and city center Surveyed in 1910-11 and partly Revised in 1918 by W.F. Crook, reprinted by Engineer Reproduction Plant, U.S. Army War College 1941]]

[[File:Banjul-Arch22-And-Statue-2007.jpg|thumb|[[Arch 22]] at the entrance to Banjul. The statue of the former president [[Yahya Jammeh]] was removed following democratic elections in 2016.]]
In 1651, Banjul was leased by [[Jacob Kettler|the Duke of Courland and Semigallia]] ([[German language|German]]: ''[[Herzog]] von Kurland und Semgallen'') from the King of [[Kombo]], as part of the [[Couronian colonization]].<ref name="HughesPerfect2008-43">{{cite book|author1=Arnold Hughes|author2=David Perfect|title=Historical Dictionary of The Gambia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0C1eWHq8LZ4C&pg=PA43|year=2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6260-9|pages=43–4|chapter=Courland, Duchy Of}}</ref>

On 23 April 1816, [[Tumani Bojang]], the [[King of Kombo]], ceded [[Banjul Island]] to [[Alexander Grant (British Army officer)|Alexander Grant]], the British commandant, in exchange for an annual fee of 103 iron bars. Grant's expedition, consisting of 75 men and tasked with establishing a military garrison, had been ordered by [[Charles MacCarthy (British Army officer)|Charles MacCarthy]].<ref name="saho">{{cite book |last1=Saho |first1=Bala |title=Contours of Change: Muslim Courts, Women, and Islamic Society in Colonial Bathurst, the Gambia, 1905-1965 |date=2018 |publisher=Michigan State University Press |location=East Lansing |isbn=9781611862669 |pages=45–51}}</ref> Grant founded Banjul as a trading post and base, constructing houses and barracks for controlling entrance to the Gambia estuary and suppressing the [[History of slavery|slave trade]].<ref name=HistoryOfBanjul>{{cite web|url=http://www.accessgambia.com/information/banjul-history.html |title=History of Banjul |publisher=Accessgambia.com |access-date=2012-10-29}}</ref> The British renamed Banjul Island as St. Mary's Island and named the new town Bathurst, after [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|the 3rd Earl Bathurst]], [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]] at the time.<ref name="HughesPerfect2008-15"/> Streets were laid out in a modified grid pattern, and named after Allied generals at the [[Battle of Waterloo]]. The town became the centre of British activity in the [[Gambia Colony and Protectorate]].<ref name="HughesPerfect2008-15">{{cite book|author1=Arnold Hughes|author2=David Perfect|title=Historical Dictionary of The Gambia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0C1eWHq8LZ4C&pg=PA15|year=2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6260-9|pages=15–16|chapter=Banjul}}</ref>


Within a few years of its establishment, the town started attracting migrants. Its population consisted of Africans of various origins, [[Levant]]ines (Syrians, Lebanese) as well as Europeans (English, French, Portuguese). A majority of the population was Muslim but there was a significant Christian minority, including the [[Gambian Creole people|Aku inhabitants]]. The majority of the Africans consisted of [[Wolof people]], whose population rose from 829 in 1881 to 3,666 in 1901 and then 10,130 in 1944. They had mainly hailed from [[Gorée]] and [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint-Louis]]. The [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]] were the second largest African group, followed by the [[Jola people|Jola]] as well as the [[Fula people|Fula]]. The [[Serer people]] make up 3.5% of the country's demographics.<ref>CIA World Fact: Gambia [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gambia-the/summaries/] (retrieved 13 April 2024)</ref> Islamic schools called ''dara'' were founded in Bathurst from its early years, resulting in the foundation of the first Muslim court in 1905, in addition to the increasingly more sophisticated British legal framework.<ref name="saho"/>

Bathurst was officially declared the capital of the [[Gambia Colony and Protectorate|Protectorate of the Gambia]] in 1889, leading to an increase in population. Through the 20th century, it became an even greater attraction for Gambians due to the availability of jobs fuelled by British colonial activities as well as social activities such as cinemas. Young men from rural farming villages would move to Bathurst to work at the Public Works Department (established in 1922) or docks. The town was an important Allied naval and air hub during [[World War II]], resulting in an increase in population from 14,370 in 1931 to 21,154 in 1944.<ref name="saho"/>


After independence, the town's name was changed to Banjul in 1973.<ref name=HistoryOfBanjul/> On 22 July 1994, Banjul was the scene of a bloodless military [[1994 Gambian coup d'état|coup d'état]] in which President Sir [[Dawda Jawara]] was overthrown and replaced by [[Yahya Jammeh]]. To commemorate this event, [[Arch 22]] was built as an entrance portal to the capital. The gate is 35 metres tall and stands at the centre of an open square. It houses a [[textile]] [[museum]].