James Island is in the middle of the River Gambia, about two kilometres south of Jufureh and Albreda. On the island are the remains of Fort James. A Dutch nobleman, James, Duke of Courland, built the fort in about 1651. The English captured it in 1661 and the island became known as Fort James or James Island, after James Duke of York. The fort was used as a trading base, first for gold and ivory then for slaves like Kunta Kinte portrayed in the movie "Roots".

This village served as the main trans-shipping post from the mainland to James Island. It is the ancestral home of the African American Alex Haley, who wrote the best seller novel "Roots". In his book he describes how his ancestor Kunta Kinte was captured, enslaved and taken to America at the end of the 18th century. Ancestors of Kunta Kinte still live the same compound near the small mosque.

Kunta Kinte was one of 98 slaves brought to Annapolis, Maryland aboard the ship Lord Ligonier in 1767.

Albreda became a French trading post in 1681 and like the English fort on James Island less than one mile away, it played a crucial role in the international competition for trade in the Gambia region. Albreda was the main French post on the river. Later when it came under English rule, many enslaved Africans were shipped from Albreda to the Americas.

Outside the museum in Albreda there are statues and works of art, that remember ancestors taken from The Gambia.

The city of Janjanbureh, formerly known as Georgetown until 1995, is a major port city on Janjanbureh Island (formerly know as MacCarthy Island) in the Gambia River, central Gambia. Captain Alexander Grant established it as a settlement for freed slaves here in 1823.

A street market in Georgetown.