Banjul, formerly Bathurst, city and seaport, capital of The Gambia, western Gambia, on the Gambia River, near the Atlantic Ocean. Situated on a sandy peninsula at the tip of Banjul (formerly Saint Mary's) Island, it is a modern city laid out in grid form. It is the principal economic and educational center of The Gambia. Among its chief industries are peanut and fish processing and the production of filigree jewelry and woven fabrics for the expanding tourist industry.
Banjul was founded (as Bathurst) by the British in 1816 as a port and a base for suppressing the slave trade. It subsequently was governed at times as part of the British colony of Sierra Leone before becoming (1889) the capital of the British Colony and Protectorate of The Gambia. It continued as the national capital when The Gambia achieved independence in 1965; it was renamed Banjul in 1973. Its port facilities were enlarged and modernized in the 1970s. Population (1994) 44,200.
