Georgetown, town, port on MacCarthy Island in the Gambia River in central Gambia. It was founded in 1823 by Captain Alexander Grant as a settlement for freed slaves. Georgetown’s Wesleyan Mission (1823) introduced the peanut (groundnut), a crop still exported downstream on the Gambia River. Georgetown is a collecting centre for swamp rice and peanuts grown by the local Muslim Malinke, Fulani, and Wolof peoples. Pop. (2003 prelim.) 3,466.