James Island and Relat­ed Sites present a tes­ti­mo­ny to the main peri­ods and facets of the encounter between Africa and Europe along the Riv­er Gam­bia, a con­tin­u­um stretch­ing from pre-colo­­nial and pre-slav­ery times to inde­pen­dence. The site is par­tic­u­lar­ly sig­nif­i­cant for its rela­tion to the begin­ning of the slave trade and its abo­li­tion. It also doc­u­ments ear­ly access to the inte­ri­or of Africa.