In the middle of the Gambia River, on a long island the British called MacCarthy Island, lies the town of Janjanbureh, known for more than a century as Georgetown. Founded in 1823, it was an important British colonial outpost, an administrative and trading base for the interior, and a place tied both to the struggle to abolish the slave trade and to the history of slavery on the river itself. Its streets still hold colonial buildings, houses and warehouses heavy with memory.
Today Janjanbureh is a quiet, somewhat sleepy place, very different from the bustle of the coast, and ideal as a base for discovering the deep Gambia: from here you can take boat trips on the river to see hippos and birds, and easily reach the Wassu stone circles and the chimpanzees of the River Gambia National Park. The island, surrounded by water and greenery, has a melancholy, authentic charm.
This guide covers what to see in Janjanbureh —its colonial and slave-trade heritage, its river trips, its riverside atmosphere—, how to get there from the coast by road or by cruise, where to stay and how to combine the visit with Wassu and the chimpanzees. It is the historical stop on the middle river and a window onto inland Gambia, the Gambia of colonial memory and life along the great river.
Janjanbureh, called Georgetown until 1995, was founded by the British in 1823 on MacCarthy Island, in the middle of the Gambia River, and named after Governor Charles MacCarthy. It began as a colonial settlement linked to the abolition of the slave trade: after Britain banned the slave trade in 1807, it served as a base for suppressing it and as a place to resettle freed slaves. For decades it was the country's second city and an administrative and trading centre for the interior. It preserves colonial buildings and sites associated with the memory of slavery, and in 2025 its historic centre was recognised within Unesco's network of Sites of Memory of Slavery.
Read the full history ↓The deep Gambia: rescued chimpanzees on the Baboon Islands, the ancient megaliths of Wassu and old colonial Georgetown on an island in the river.
Read the history of The middle river and the interior →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Janjanbureh sits on a long, narrow island in the middle of the Gambia River, along the country's middle stretch, in what is now the Central River Region. In a country like The Gambia — a thin strip of land that follows the river along its entire course — an inland river island was hugely valuable strategically: it was easy to defend, it controlled river traffic and it served as a base for trade and for running the river.
Before the British arrived, the island and the land around it were home to local communities, mostly Mandinka, and belonged to the world of kingdoms and riverside villages along the Gambia River. The island's traditional name, Janjanbureh, goes back to that time before colonisation, when the river was at the centre of life in the region and of its trade.
That strategic position is what drew the British to the island in the early 19th century, at a key moment: they had just banned the slave trade and were looking for footholds in the interior of West Africa to strengthen their presence, stamp out the trade and build up 'legitimate' commerce. The island in the middle river fit those plans perfectly.
In 1823, the British founded the settlement of Georgetown on the island, named in honour of King George, and gave the island itself the name MacCarthy Island, after Sir Charles MacCarthy, then governor of Britain's West African territories. The new outpost came into being after Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, when Britain went from being a major slave-trading power to actively fighting the trade.
Georgetown was conceived partly as a settlement tied to this new policy: a place to resettle liberated slaves — Africans rescued from intercepted slave ships — and a base from which to extend British influence and control the river against the illegal trade in people. Over time it became an administrative, military and commercial centre for the interior, with colonial buildings, a courthouse, the governor's residence and merchants' warehouses.
For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Georgetown was the second most important town in The Gambia, the main town of the interior and a meeting point for many different peoples. Its history is complicated, though, and has its dark side: although it was founded as part of the fight against the slave trade, the region already had a history of slavery, and the town still has places that local memory links with holding and trading enslaved people.
Janjanbureh's sites linked to slavery are now central to its historical interest. Local guides show old houses and warehouses that tradition links with the slave trade and river commerce, as well as places connected with the resettlement of liberated slaves. Because the town was founded in the name of abolition and still holds traces of an older slaving past, Janjanbureh is a nuanced and powerful place of memory that invites you to think about how complex this history is.
In 2025, the historic centre of old Georgetown was recognised as part of Unesco's network of Sites of Memory of Slavery — a select list of places around the world — in recognition of the island's role in the history of slavery and in the settlement of freed people. The Gambian Government has placed Janjanbureh at the centre of its memory and reparations agenda, together with Kunta Kinteh Island and Juffureh.
This international recognition has given new energy to efforts to preserve the island's heritage and to develop responsible memory tourism. Visiting Janjanbureh with this in mind — knowing that behind its crumbling colonial buildings lie deep human stories — turns the visit into more than a picturesque stroll: it becomes an act of remembrance of one of the most painful chapters in Africa's history.
Beyond its colonial history, Janjanbureh is a centre of inland Mandinka culture, and of the Kankurang in particular. This masked figure, covered in bark and red leaves, is the central figure in Mandinka initiation rites and acts as a guardian of social order and tradition. Its appearances, surrounded by music, dance and respect, mark important moments in community life and pass values down from one generation to the next.
Unesco recognised the Kankurang as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005, and later added it to its Representative List, for its value as a living cultural expression of the Mandinka communities of Senegal and The Gambia. Janjanbureh is one of its main centres and hosts the Kankurang Festival each season, with performances, music and dance that draw travellers interested in the country's traditional culture.
This lively culture goes hand in hand with the river's natural setting: the hippos, crocodiles and incredibly rich birdlife you can see on boat trips around the island. Janjanbureh brings together colonial history, the memory of slavery, living Mandinka culture and river wildlife, a mix that sums up everything the middle Gambia River has to offer.
After independence, and as part of a move to restore local names, the town was officially renamed Janjanbureh in 1995, although many people still use the old name Georgetown. As river transport declined and economic activity moved towards the coast, the town lost its standing as the country's second city and became a quiet, somewhat sleepy inland town.
That peaceful, timeless feel is now part of its charm. Janjanbureh has reinvented itself as a base for tourism on the middle river: from the island you can set off on hippo-spotting boat trips, excursions to the Wassu stone circles and outings to see the chimpanzees of River Gambia National Park, and its lodges and camps offer places to stay surrounded by nature. It is the most convenient stop in the interior for both history and services.
Exploring Janjanbureh means travelling into the Gambian heartland: the Gambia of colonial history and the memory of slavery, of the Mandinka Kankurang culture, of the great river with its hippos and birds. Far from the bustle of the beaches, old Georgetown offers curious travellers a genuine experience full of history and quiet, in the heart of the country.
