The World Heritage Committee,
1. Noting that this property is the first to be inscribed on the World Heritage List from Gambia,
2. Inscribes James Island and Related Sites, Gambia, on the World Heritage List on the basis of cultural criteria (iii) and (vi):
Criterion (iii): James Island and Related Sites on the River Gambia provide an exceptional testimony to the different facets of the African-European encounter, from the 15th to 20th centuries. The River Gambia formed the first trade route into the interior of Africa and became an early corridor for the slave trade.
Criterion (vi): James Island and Related Sites, the villages and the batteries, were directly and tangibly associated with the beginning and the conclusion of the slave trade, retaining its memory related to the African Diaspora.
The property consists of seven sites along the River Gambia River:
Name | District | Area (ha) | Buffer Zone |
James Island | Lower Niumi District | 0.35 ha |
|
Six-Gun Battery | Banjul Municipality | 0.17 ha |
|
Fort Bullen | Upper Niumi District | 6.3 ha |
|
Ruins of San Domingo | Lower Niumi District | 0.723 ha |
300 ha
(Coastal strip) |
Remains of Portuguese Chapel | Lower Niumi District | 0.006 ha | |
CFAO [63] Building | Lower Niumi District | 0.030 ha | |
Maurel Frères Building | Lower Niumi District | 0.0191 ha | |
| TOTAL | 7.5981 ha | 300 ha |
3. Requests the State Party to work with the World Heritage Centre to strengthen the management plan for the entire property, integrating protection of the cultural landscape of the River Gambia River into this plan;
4. Requests that the State Party report back to the World Heritage Committee at its 28th session in 2004 on the progress made in the implementation of this plan.
[63] « Compagnie Française d'Afrique Occidentale ».