Barra (Gambia)

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Barra ( former name Barrinding ) is a town of historical importance in the West African nation of Gambia.

According to a calculation for 2013 there live about 5799 inhabitants, the result of the last published census in 1993 amounted to 4257th

Geography

The place is in the North Bank Region, District Lower Niumi at the mouth of the Gambia River into the Atlantic Ocean to the Barra Point, about five kilometers in a straight line from Banjul.

History

Britain had in 1807 banned the slave trade with the Slave Trade Act and acquired in 1816, the St. Mary's branch Iceland, where he built the settlement of Bathurst (now Banjul).

They set up in 1826, Fort Bullen, that was named after the commander Charles Bullen, on the other side of the estuary and controlled so that together with the Six -Gun Battery in Bathurst, to stop the mouth of the Gambia River to the slave trade.

Economy and infrastructure

To the west there is the Ferry Banjul - Barra, which runs every ninety minutes after the capital Banjul on the other side of the river. As a ferry from Banjul from Barra is an important station to reach the areas in the North Bank Division, so the historical sites Albreda and Juffure and the other major cities on the North Bank Road, as Kerewan, Salikenne and Farafenni north of the Gambia river. In addition, a remote road leads north to Senegal, which continues as Senegalese N5 and goes on to Dakar Kaolack.

Culture and sights

With James Iceland and Related Sites like seven objects were summarized and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Close to Barra Fort lies bulls, of which only ruins but available.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Deyda Hydara (1946-2004), journalist
• Abu Bakarr Gaye (1951-2010), physician and politician