 In 1840 and 1853, considerable areas of the mainland adjoining St Mary's Island were obtained from the King of Kombo for the settlement of discharged soldiers of the West India Regiments and liberated Africans.Cessions of another land further upstream were obtained at various dates, including Albreda, the French enclave, which was obtained in 1857.In the 1850s, under the leadership of Louis Faidherbe, the French colony of Senegal began a vigorous expansion until it virtually engulfed the Gambia.