Banjul trading post and base, constructing houses and barracks for controlling entrance to the Gambia estuary and suppressing the slave trade. The British renamed Banjul Island as St. Mary's Island and named the new town Bathurst, after the 3rd Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the time. Streets were laid out in a modified grid pattern, and named after Allied generals at the Battle of Waterloo. The town became the centre of British activity in the Gambia Colony and Protectorate. After independence, the town's name was changed to Banjul in 1973. On 22 July 1994, Banjul
Plymouth-Banjul Challenge motorbikes on it through the desert - the challenge has now been laid down for another team to get a trailer through the desert and in 2006 two ambulances made it across. In the 2004/2005 event, a Swiss Team (Team Pintpullers) drove a Mercedes Van and a 125cc motorbike from Switzerland to Bangul. The Bike was ridden the entire time and reached Banjul where it was donated to the local police. There are even people who cannot drive taking part with one half of a Fiat Uno team learning to drive in the desert where he managed to crash it