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Banjul

 
Dictionary: Ban·jul   (bän'jūl') pronunciation (Formerly Bath·urst (băth'ərst))
 

The capital of Gambia, on an island at the mouth of the Gambia River on the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded as a trading post by the British in 1816. Population: 34,800.

 

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Seaport ( pop., 1993: urban agglomeration, 270,540), capital of The Gambia. Located on the Island of St. Mary in the Gambia River, it is the country's largest city. Founded by the British in 1816 to suppress the slave trade, it subsequently became the capital of the British colony of Gambia. With The Gambia's independence in 1965, it became the national capital. Tourism is of increasing importance, and Banjul serves as a transportation centre with connections to the interior and to Senegal.

For more information on Banjul, visit Britannica.com.

 
Banjul (bän'jʊl) , formerly Bathurst (băth'ərst) , port city (1993 pop. 42,407), capital of The Gambia, situated on St. Mary's Island where the Gambia River enters the Atlantic Ocean. It is the only large urban area in The Gambia and is the country's economic and administrative center. Its port handles oceangoing ships. Banjul's chief export is peanuts; beeswax, palm kernels and oil, and skins and hides are also shipped. Peanut processing is the chief industry. The city was founded by the British on the site of an anchorage in 1816 as a trading post and a base for suppressing the slave trade.


 
Weather: Banjul, Gambia
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AccuWeather® 5-Day Forecast for

Friday HI:  90°F / 32°C
LO: 72°F / 22°C
Saturday HI:  87°F / 30°C
LO: 75°F / 23°C
Sunday HI:  89°F / 31°C
LO: 77°F / 25°C
Monday HI:  87°F / 30°C
LO: 78°F / 25°C
Tuesday HI:  86°F / 30°C
LO: 77°F / 25°C
Last updated July 10, 2009 18:09 (EST)

 
Local Time: Banjul, Gambia
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Local Time: Jul 10, 10:50 PM

 
Wikipedia: Banjul
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Banjul
Banjul King Fahad Mosque
Banjul King Fahad Mosque
Banjul is located in Gambia
Banjul
Banjul
Location of Banjul in The Gambia
Coordinates: 13°27′11″N 16°34′39″W / 13.45306°N 16.5775°W / 13.45306; -16.5775Coordinates: 13°27′11″N 16°34′39″W / 13.45306°N 16.5775°W / 13.45306; -16.5775
Country The Gambia
Division Banjul
Area
 - Urban 35.9 sq mi (93 km2)
Population (2003)
 - City 34,828
 - Urban 357,238

Banjul (formerly Bathurst), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital of The Gambia, and located within the division of the same name. The population of the city proper is only 34,828, with the Greater Banjul Area, which includes the City of Banjul and the Kanifing Municipal Council, at a population of 357,238 (2003 census). It is located on St Mary's Island (Banjul Island) where the Gambia River enters the Atlantic Ocean. The island is connected to the mainland by passenger and vehicle ferries to the north and bridges to the south.

Contents

History

In 1816, the British founded Banjul as a trading post and base for suppressing the slave trade. It was first named Bathurst after Henry Bathurst, the secretary of the British Colonial Office, but was changed to Banjul in 1973.

Arch 22 at the entrance to Banjul

On July 22, 1994 Banjul was the scene of a bloodless military coup d'état in which President Dawda Jawara was overthrown and replaced by the country's current President Yahya Jammeh. To commemorate this event, Arch 22 was built as an entrance portal to the capital. The gate is 35 metres tall and the centre of an open square. It houses a textile museum.

Attractions in the city include the Gambian National Museum, the Albert Market, Banjul State House, Banjul Court House, two cathedrals and several major mosques.

Economy

Banjul is the main urban area of The Gambia and is the country's economic and administrative centre including the Central Bank of The Gambia. As the fourth most densely populated country in Africa, The Gambia has more than one urban area. Peanut processing is the country's principal industry, but beeswax, palm wood, palm oil, and skins and hides are also shipped from its port. View of Banjul from Arch 22. The museum includes handwritten pages from the Qur'an and explains a lot of Juju "magic".

Climate

Banjul has a hot climate all year round.


 Weather averages for Banjul 
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °F 88 90 93 91 90 90 86 84 88 90 90 88
Average low °F 59 61 63 64 66 73 73 73 73 72 64 61
Average high °C 31 32 34 33 32 32 30 29 31 32 32 31
Average low °C 15 16 17 18 19 23 23 23 23 22 18 16
Source: [1] 8 December 2008

Transport

Albert Market
A street in Banjul

Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans-West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.

Districts

Districts of Banjul

Banjul Division (Greater Banjul Area) is divided into two districts:

Twinned cities

Banjul is twinned with Grimsby in the UK and Newark, New Jersey in the United States. It has also been a sister city with Taipei, Taiwan since 1997. Since 2003 Banjul has had a fruitful citylink with the Belgian coastal town of Ostend. Cooperation is established in ICT-infrastructure for the B.C.C. and other projects for capacity building. Ostend-based humanitarian organisation Medios vzw is supporting the Female Surgical Ward of the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital. (more info on http://stedenband.oostende.be) It is the destination of the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, a charity road rally.

Banjul seen from SPOT satellite

See also

References

  1. ^ "Banjul, Gambia". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT000230. Retrieved on 8 December 2008. 

External links


 
Translations: Banjul
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - Banjul

Français (French)
n. - Banjul

Deutsch (German)
n. - Banjul

Português (Portuguese)
n. - Banjul

Español (Spanish)
n. - Banjul

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
班珠尔

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 班竹

한국어 (Korean)
반줄 (Gambia감비아 의 수도; 구칭 Bathurst)

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בנג'ול‬


 
 
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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Weather. © 2008 AccuWeather, Inc.  Read more
Local Time. Copyright © 2001 - Chaos Software. All rights reserved  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Banjul" Read more
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