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84-399: Sierra Leone first became inhabited by indigenous African peoples at least 2,500 years ago. The Limba were the first tribe known to inhabit Sierra Leone. The dense tropical rainforest partially isolated the region from other West African cultures, and it became a refuge for peoples escaping violence and jihads . Sierra Leone was named by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra , who mapped

168-521: A factory in the vicinity of Sherbro Island , about 50 km (30 mi) south-east from present-day Freetown . In addition to ivory and slaves, the merchants at the factory also traded in camwood , a type of hard timber. The Portuguese missionary Baltasar Barreira ministered in Sierra Leone until 1610. Jesuits , and later in the century, Capuchins , continued the mission. By 1700 it had closed, although priests occasionally visited. In 1663,

252-484: A Portuguese writer (Dornelas) in the late 16th century, their travels had begun as a result of the expulsion of their chief from the imperial city of Mandimansa , their homeland. There are conflicting accounts among historians of how these invasions happened. Some historians place their first arrival at the coast east of Sierra Leone, at least as far as the River Cess and likely farther. They advanced northwest along

336-557: A central organisation: autonomous chapters exist for each chiefdom or village. However, it is said that in pre-Protectorate days there was a "Grand Poro" with cross-chiefdom powers of making war and peace. It is widely agreed that it has a restraining influence on the powers of the chiefs. Headed by a fearsome principal spirit, the Gbeni , it plays a major role in the rite of passage of males from puberty to manhood. It imparts some education. In some areas, it had supervisory powers over trade, and

420-449: A chiefdom during the minority of the heir. Descendants of slaves were often practically indistinguishable from freemen. Slaves were sometimes sent on errands outside the kingdoms of their masters and returned voluntarily. Speaking specifically of the era around 1700, historian Christopher Fyfe relates that, "Slaves not taken in war were usually criminals. In coastal areas, at least, it was rare for anyone to be sold without being charged with

504-485: A colony for Black Loyalists at Freetown, and this became the capital of British West Africa . A naval squadron was based there to intercept slave ships, and the colony quickly grew as Liberated Africans were released, joined by Afro-Caribbean and African soldiers who had fought for Britain in the American Revolutionary War . The descendants of the black settlers were collectively referred to as

588-452: A crime." Voluntary dependence reminiscent of that described in the early Portuguese documents mentioned at the beginning of this section was still present in the 19th century. It was called pawning ; Arthur Abraham describes a typical variety: A freeman heavily in debt, and facing the threat of the punishment of being sold, would approach a wealthier man or chief with a plea to pay of[f] his debts 'while I sit on your lap'. Or he could give

672-456: A line of Mane kings. The present-day Loko and Mende are the result of a more complete submersion of the original culture: their languages are similar, and both essentially Mande. This is likely due to conquest by the Mane invaders. The Mane invasions militarised Sierra Leone. The Sapes had been un-warlike, but after the invasions, right until the late 19th century, bows, shields , and knives of

756-697: A monopoly in England, began to operate here and on the Guinea Coast as traders. While originally seeking gold, particularly along the Gambia River , by the early eighteenth century the RAC became involved in slave trading , which its monopoly covered. The RAC established a Company fort known as York Island at Sherbro Island. It was a port for exporting enslaved Africans to the Americas. Thomas Corker , who

840-669: A person would likely have retained some rights and had some opportunity to rise in status as time passed. The European colonization of the Americas soon led to labor demands from nascent colonies; this led Europeans to seek a supply of slaves to transport to the Americas. Initially, European slavers launched raids on coastal villages to abduct Africans and sell them into slavery. However, they soon established economic alliances with local leaders, as many chiefs were willing to sell undesirable members of their tribe to Europeans. Other African chiefs launched raids on rival tribes in order to sell captives of such raids into slavery. This early slaving

924-412: A serious offense, such as adultery with the wife of a freeman. Small plots of land were given to them for their own use, and they might retain the proceeds of crops they grew on these plots; by this means it was possible for a slave to become the owner of another slave. Sometimes a slave married into the household of his master and rose to a position of trust; there is an instance of a slave taking charge of

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1008-466: A son or some other dependent of his 'to be for you', the wealthy man or chief. This in effect meant that the person so pawned was automatically reduced to a position of dependence, and if he was never redeemed, he or his children eventually became part of the master's extended family. By this time, the children were practically indistinguishable from the real children of the master, since they grew up regarding one another as brothers. Some observers consider

1092-578: A subordinate to his Mani neighbour). By the mid-17th century this situation had changed: Temne, not Bullom was spoken on the south shore, and ships stopping for water and firewood had to pay customs to the Temne king of Bureh who lived at Bagos town on the point between the Rokel River and Port Loko Creek. (The king may have considered himself a Mani—to this day, Temne chiefs have Mani-derived titles—but his people were Temne. The Bureh king in place in 1690

1176-486: A successful African-American ship maker of Boston , Massachusetts , became interested in resettling free blacks in west Africa. The British had undertaken this at Freetown, Sierra Leone since 1792. There, Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia (African Americans freed in the American Revolution ) had been joined by Maroons deported from Jamaica , Liberated Africans freed from illegal traders, and some of

1260-401: Is an ongoing project to make the island a special economic zone . Sherbro Island is believed to be a breeding ground for green sea turtles as well as leatherback sea turtles . The waters surrounding the island hold some of the biggest tarpon in the world. Records of the sportfishing organisation IGFA have been made by catches from this area. African manatees also inhabit the delta of

1344-852: Is pursued by a sub-commission established under the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) , sponsored by the African Union (AU) (successor body to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) ). In late 2003, the 53 signatory states of the ACHPR adopted the Report of the African Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and its recommendations. This report says in part (p. 62): The adoption of this report at least notionally subscribed

1428-686: The American Colonization Society (ACS), founded in 1820 by both abolitionists and slaveholders, continued the effort to resettle free blacks in Africa. They commissioned a survey of possible areas, including Sherbro Island. They found John Kizell , a Sherbro born locally who had returned after being captured and held in slavery in South Carolina. He gained freedom with the British during the American Revolutionary War and

1512-680: The American South . During the 18th century, numerous slaves from Bunce Island were transported to the Southern Colonies , due in part to the business relationship between American slave trader Henry Laurens and the London -based firm of Grant, Sargent, Oswald & Company, which oversaw a thriving slave trade from Bunce Island in Sierra Leone to North America. The transatlantic slave trade continued to transport millions of enslaved Africans, including those from Sierra Leone, across

1596-518: The Creoles or Krios. During the colonial era, the British and Creoles increased their control over the surrounding area, securing peace so that commerce would not be interrupted, suppressing slave-trading and inter-chiefdom war. In 1895, Britain drew borders for Sierra Leone which they declared to be their protectorate , leading to armed resistance and the Hut Tax War of 1898 . Thereafter, there

1680-503: The Republic of Congo adopted a law for the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. This law is the first of its kind in Africa, and its adoption is a historic development for indigenous peoples on the continent. [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] Oceania [REDACTED] South America Sherbro River Historically, this

1764-740: The Royal African Company (RAC) was granted a royal charter from Charles II of England and soon established a factory on Sherbro Island and Tasso Island. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War , both factories were sacked by a Dutch Navy force in 1664. The factory was rebuilt, though it was sacked again by the French Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704 and pirates in 1719 and 1720. After

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1848-770: The Sherbro and Freetown estuaries, Loko -speakers north of the Freetown estuary to the Little Scarcies River , Temne -speakers found at the mouth of the Scarcies River , and Limba -speakers farther up the Scarcies. In the hilly savannah north of all of these lands were the Susu and Fula tribes. The Susu traded regularly with the coastal peoples along river valley routes, bringing salt, clothes woven by

1932-511: The Temne ethnolinguistic group was expanding. Around 1600, a Mani still ruled the Loko kingdom (the area north of Port Loko Creek) and another ruled the upper part of the south shore of the Freetown estuary. The north shore of the estuary was under a Ballom king, and the area just east of Freetown on the peninsula was held by a non-Mani with a European name, Dom Phillip de Leon (who may have been

2016-678: The Yoni country 100 km (62 mi) east of present-day Freetown. Some of his Temne subjects fled south to the Banta country between the middle reaches of the Bagu and Jong rivers, where they became known as the Mabanta Temne. In 1652, the first slaves from Sierra Leone were transported to North America ; they were sold to white plantation owners in the Sea Islands off the coast of

2100-519: The 19th century, the thigh-thick logs planted into the earth to make the palisades often took root at the bottom and grew foliage at the top, so that the defenders occupied a living wall of wood. A British officer who observed one of these fortifications around the time of the 1898 Hut Tax war ended his description of it thus: No one who has not seen these fences can realize the immense strength of them. The outer fence at Hahu I measured in several places, and found it to be from 2 to 3 feet thick, and most of

2184-413: The 19th century, though domestic slavery would persist until the 20th century. Indigenous peoples of Africa The indigenous people of Africa are groups of people native to a specific region; people who lived there before colonists or settlers arrived, defined new borders, and began to occupy the land. This definition applies to all indigenous groups, whether inside or outside of Africa. Although

2268-518: The Atlantic during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries; ultimately, roughly 12.5 million slaves where brought to the Americas this way. However, the rise of abolitionist movements in the Western world in the late 18th and early 19th centuries led to various European and American governments passing legislation to abolish the slave trade. The slave trade in Sierra Leone underwent a marked decline during

2352-578: The Dutch raid on the RAC factory at Tasso Island, it was relocated to the nearby Bunce Island , which was more defensible. The Europeans made payments, called Cole , for rent, tribute, and trading rights, to the king of an area. At this time the local military advantage was still on the side of the Africans, and there is a 1714 report of a king seizing RAC goods in retaliation for a breach of protocol . Local Afro-Portuguese merchants often acted as middlemen,

2436-608: The Europeans advancing them goods to trade to the local people, most often for ivory. In 1728, an overly aggressive RAC governor united the Africans and Afro-Portuguese in hostility to him; they burnt down the Bunce Island fort and it was not rebuilt until about 1750. During the time that the Royal African Company was operating, the firm of Grant , Sargent  [ Wikidata ] and Oswald provisioned

2520-522: The Europeans. In industry, a flourishing tradition in fine ivory carving was ended; however, improved ironworking techniques were introduced. By the 17th century, Portuguese colonialism in West Africa began to wane, and in Sierra Leone other European colonial powers such as the English and Dutch began to supplant their influence in the region. In 1628, a group of English merchants had established

2604-594: The Fula, iron work, and gold. Portuguese ships began visiting Sierra Leone regularly in the late 15th century, and for a while they maintained a fort on the north shore of the Freetown estuary . This estuary is one of the largest natural deep-water harbours in the world, and one of the few good harbours on West Africa's surf-battered "Windward Shore" (Liberia to Senegal). It soon became a favourite destination of European mariners, to shelter and replenish drinking water. Some of

History of Sierra Leone - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-442: The Mane had blended with the indigenous population—a process which was completed in the early 17th century—the various kingdoms in Sierra Leone remained in a fairly continual state of flux and conflict. Rodney believes that a desire to take prisoners to sell as slaves to the Europeans was a major motivation to this fighting, and may even have been a driving force behind the original Mane invasions. Historian Kenneth Little concludes that

2772-457: The Mane type had become ubiquitous in Sierra Leone, as had the Mane battle technique of using squadrons of archers fighting in formation, carrying the large-style shields. Villages became fortified. The usual method of erecting two or three concentric palisades, each 4–7 metres (12–20 ft) high, created a formidable obstacle to attackers—especially since, as some of the English observed in

2856-499: The Muslim Fula first cohabited peaceably with the peoples already at Fouta Djallon, around 1725 they embarked on a war of domination, forcing the migration of many Susu , Yalunka , and non-Muslim Fula. Susu—some already converted to Islam—came south into Sierra Leone, in turn displacing Limba from north-west Sierra Leone and driving them into north-central Sierra Leone where they continue to live. Some Susu moved as far south as

2940-532: The Portuguese mariners kept detailed reports, and so it is likely if slavery had been an important local institution that the reports would have described it. There was mention of a very particular kind of slavery in the region, which was: a person in trouble in one kingdom could go to another and place himself under the protection of its king, whereupon he became a "slave" of that king, obliged to provide free labour and liable for sale. According to Rodney, such

3024-527: The Portuguese sailors stayed permanently, trading and intermarrying with the local people. Slavery, and in particular the Atlantic slave trade , had a great effect on the region—socially, economically and politically—from the late 15th to the mid-19th centuries. There had been lucrative trans-Saharan trade of slaves in West Africa from the 6th century. At its peak (c. 1350) the Mali Empire surrounded

3108-513: The Sherbro or Bulom. The Dutch geographer Olfert Dapper knew of it in the 17th century. It is often described as a "secret society", and this is partly true: its rites are closed to non-members, and what happens in the "Poro bush" is never disclosed. However, its membership is very broad: among the Mende, almost all men, and some women, are initiates. In recent years it has not (as far as is known) had

3192-580: The Temne town of Port Loko, only 60 km (37 mi) upriver from the Atlantic. Eventually a Muslim Susu family called Senko supplanted the town's Temne rulers. Other Susu moved westward from Fouta Djallon, eventually dominating the Baga , Bulom, and Temne north of the Scarcies River . The Yalunka in Fouta Djallon first accepted Islam, then rejected it and were driven out. They went into north-central Sierra Leone and founded their capital at Falaba in

3276-520: The UN. In 2008, IPACC was composed of 150 member organisations in 21 African countries. IPACC identifies several key characteristics associated with indigenous claims in Africa: With respect to concerns that identifying some groups and not others as indigenous is in itself discriminatory , IPACC states that it: At an African inter-governmental level, the examination of indigenous rights and concerns

3360-449: The US were native to the nation; they had family and history there. They wanted to gain equal rights and non-discriminatory treatment in the US. In 1821, the ship Elizabeth from New York carried 86 free African Americans (including missionary Daniel Coker ), as well as three ACS agents, as the first ACS sponsored group to Sherbro Island. Disease and fever quickly killed more than a quarter of

3444-691: The United Kingdom on 27 April 1961 and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . Ethnic and linguistic divisions remain an obstacle to national unity, with the Mende , Temne and Creoles as rival power blocs. Roughly half of the years since independence have been marked by autocratic governments or civil war . Archaeological finds show that Sierra Leone has been inhabited continuously for at least 2,500 years, populated by successive movements of peoples from other parts of Africa. The use of iron

History of Sierra Leone - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-519: The United States and Britain in 1808. The Mane invasions of the mid-16th century had a profound impact on Sierra Leone. The Mane (also called Mani) were members of the Mande language group. A warrior people, well-armed and well-organized, they lived east and somewhat north of present-day Sierra Leone. Sometime in the early 16th century they began moving south. According to some Mane who spoke to

3612-697: The banking system, which used iron bars as a medium of exchange. It is not the only important society in Sierra Leone: the Sande is a female-only analogue of it; there is also the Humoi which regulates sex, and the Njayei and the Wunde . The Kpa is a healing-arts collegium. Besides the political impact, there were economic effects as well: trade with the interior was interrupted, and thousands were sold as slaves to

3696-406: The coast toward Sierra Leone, conquering as they went. Others contend that they arrived on the coast near Sherbro Island . They incorporated large numbers of the people they conquered into their army, with the result that the rank and file consisted mostly of coastal peoples, while the Mane were its commanding group. By 1545, the Mane had reached Cape Mount . Their conquest of Sierra Leone occupied

3780-456: The coast. During the Mane invasion in the 16th century, Sherbro was the center of one of their main kingdoms. The king throughout the first half of the 17th century was a man named Sherabola or Selboele, after whom the island was named. In the seventeenth century Portuguese , Spanish , and Dutch explorers and traders came to this area. They traded with the Sherbro and with other tribes up

3864-805: The contemporary global sense of the term. For example, in West Africa , the Dogon people of Mali and Burkina Faso , the Jola people of Guinea-Bissau , The Gambia , and Senegal , and the Serer people of Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau , and Mauritania , and formally North Africa, have faced religious and ethnic persecution for centuries, and disenfranchisement or prejudice in modern times (see Persecution of Serers and Persecution of Dogons ). These people, who are indigenous to their present habitat, are classified as indigenous peoples . The history of

3948-411: The displacement of many indigenous cultures. Since the end of World War II, indigenous African cultures have been in a state of constant flux, struggling to maintain their identity in the face of Westernization and globalization. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional cultures and many African countries have taken steps to preserve and promote their indigenous heritage. In

4032-493: The dominant political and economic structures of the nation. Since the late 20th century, these peoples have increasingly sought recognition of their rights as distinct indigenous peoples, in both national and international contexts. The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) was founded in 1997. It is one of the main trans-national network organizations recognized as a representative of African indigenous peoples in dialogues with governments and bodies such as

4116-441: The dominant state systems. Their traditional practices and land claims have often come into conflict with the objectives and policies promulgated by governments, companies, and surrounding dominant societies. Marginalization, along with the desire to recognize and protect their collective and human rights , and to maintain the continuity of their individual cultures , has led many to seek identification as indigenous peoples , in

4200-528: The early 18th century, a Bulom named Seniora Maria had her own town near Cape Sierra Leone. During the 17th century, Muslim Fula from the Upper Niger and Senegal rivers moved into an area called Fouta Djallon (or Futa Jalon) in the mountainous region north of present-day Sierra Leone. They were to have an important impact on the peoples of Sierra Leone because they increased trade and also produced secondary population movements into Sierra Leone. Though

4284-512: The ensuing 15 to 20 years, and resulted in the subjugation of all or nearly all of the indigenous coastal peoples—who were known collectively as the Sapes —as far north as the Scarcies. The present demographics of Sierra Leone is largely a reflection of these two decades. The degree to which the Mane supplanted the original inhabitants varied from place to place. The Temne partly withstood the Mane onslaught, and kept their language, but became ruled by

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4368-513: The ethnic groups in the territory of Sierra Leone who were interested in western culture, coalesced into the Creole/Krio ethnicity. Cuffe believed that skilled American blacks could help develop trade between Sierra Leone and the United States, benefiting both. In 1815, he resettled a group of 88 American freedmen on Sherbro Island. After returning to the US, Cuffe marketed his cargo of goods taken on at Freetown. Cuffe died in 1817, but

4452-436: The first in West Africa. In 1462, Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra mapped the hills surrounding what is now Freetown Harbour, naming the oddly shaped formation Serra Lyoa (Lioness Mountain). At this time the country was inhabited by numerous politically independent native groups. Several different languages were spoken, but there was similarity of religion. In the coastal rainforest belt there were Bulom -speakers between

4536-452: The fortified towns so strong that their capture was seldom attempted. Often the fighting consisted of small ambushes. In these years, the political system was such that each large village along with its satellite villages and settlements would be headed by a chief. The chief would have a private army of warriors. Sometimes several chiefs would group themselves into a confederacy, acknowledging one of themselves as king (or high chief). Each paid

4620-512: The indigenous African peoples spans thousands of years and includes a complex variety of cultures, languages, and political systems. Indigenous African cultures have existed since ancient times, with some of the earliest evidence of human life on the continent coming from stone tools and rock art dating back hundreds of thousands of years. The earliest written records of African history come from ancient Egyptian and Nubian texts, which date back to around 3000 B.C. These texts provide insight into

4704-487: The international African slave trade in 1808 in partnership with the United States, it used the former RAC trading fort on Sherbro Island as a base for naval operations against illegal slave traders. Liberated slaves were resettled in the Freetown colony. But for decades more, both Spain and Portugal continued to buy African slaves for their colonies in the Caribbean, and Central and South America. In 1815 Paul Cuffe ,

4788-534: The king fealty. If one were attacked, the king would come to his aid, and the king could adjudicate local disputes. Despite their many political divisions, the people of the country were united by cultural similarity. One component of this was the Poro , an organisation common to many different kingdoms and ethnolinguistic groups. The Mende claim to be its originators, and there is nothing to contradict this. Possibly they imported it. The Temne claim to have imported it from

4872-478: The late 18th century, William Cleveland , a Scottish leader in Africa had a large "slave town" on the mainland opposite the Banana Islands , whose inhabitants "were employed in cultivating extensive rice fields, described as being some of the largest in Africa at the time". The existence of an indigenous slave town was recorded by an English traveler in 1823. Known in the Fula language as a rounde , it

4956-400: The local populations and the various chiefdoms and kingdoms remained in a continual state of conflict, with many captives sold to European slave-traders. The Atlantic slave trade had a significant impact on Sierra Leone, as this trade flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, and later as a centre of anti-slavery efforts when the trade was abolished in 1807. British abolitionists had organised

5040-484: The logs, or rather trees, of which it was formed, had taken root and were throwing out leaves and shoots. He also said that English artillery could not penetrate all three fences. At that time, at least among the Mende, "a typical settlement consisted of walled towns and open villages or towns surrounding it." After the invasions, the Mane sub-chiefs among whom the country had been divided began fighting among themselves. This pattern of activity became permanent: even after

5124-536: The main economic activities. In 2024 it was reported that English actor Idris Elba , whose father is Sierra Leonean Creole , had founded Sherbro Alliance Partners with the goal of developing a "smart-city" capable of supporting up to a million people on Sherbro. Sherbro Island was long inhabited by the Sherbro people, who historically dominated other ethnicities in much of the region on the mainland. The islanders had an economy based on extensive fishing. They also traded by boat with neighboring people in villages along

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5208-597: The mountains near the source of the Rokel. It is still an important town, about 20 km (12 mi) south of the Guinea border. Other Yalunka went somewhat farther south and settled amongst the Koranko , Kissi , and Limba. Besides these groups, who were more-or-less unwilling emigrants, a considerable variety of Muslim adventurers went forth from Fouta Djallon. A Fula called Fula Mansa ( mansa meaning king ) became ruler of

5292-433: The population (i.e., 84,000 people) were domestic slaves. He also says that "singularly little change followed the 1928 decree; a fair number of slaves returned to their original homes, but the great majority remained in the villages in which their former masters had placed them or their parents." Export slavery remained a major business in Sierra Leone from the late 15th century to the mid-19th century. According to Fyfe, "it

5376-475: The post-colonial period, the concept of specific indigenous peoples within the African continent has gained wider acceptance, although not without controversy. The highly diverse and numerous ethnic groups which comprise most modern, independent African states contain within them various peoples whose situation, cultures, and pastoralist or hunter-gatherer lifestyles are generally marginalized and set apart from

5460-435: The principal objective in the local wars, at least among the Mende, was plunder, not the acquisition of territory. Abraham cautions that slave trading should not be exaggerated as a cause: the Africans had their own reasons to fight, with territorial and political ambitions present. Motivations likely changed over time during the 350-year period. The wars themselves were not exceptionally deadly. Set-piece battles were rare, and

5544-405: The region in 1462. The Freetown estuary provided a good natural harbour for ships to shelter and replenish drinking water, and gained more international attention as coastal and trans-Atlantic trade supplanted trans-Saharan trade . In the mid-16th century, the Mane people invaded, subjugated nearly all of the indigenous coastal peoples, and militarised Sierra Leone . The Mane soon blended with

5628-453: The region of modern-day Sierra Leone and Liberia, though the slave trade may not have significantly penetrated the coastal rainforest. The peoples who migrated into Sierra Leone from this time would have had greater contact with the indigenous slave trade, either practicing it or escaping it. When Europeans first arrived at Sierra Leone, slavery among the African peoples of the area was believed to be rare. According to historian Walter Rodney ,

5712-604: The rivers to the interior. They referred to what is now known as the Sherbro River as the Madrebombo River, which may have referred to "mother drum" in Spanish. Dutch letters dated 1633 refer to the river in a spelling variation as Maderebombo. Other spelling versions included Madrabomba. (See: Navigantium Atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca ) In the seventeenth century, the Royal African Company , chartered as

5796-466: The signatories to the concepts and aims of furthering the identity and rights of African indigenous peoples. The extent to which individual states are mobilizing to put these recommendations into practice varies enormously, however. Most indigenous groups continue to agitate for improvements in the areas of land rights, use of natural resources, protection of environment and culture, political recognition and freedom from discrimination. On 30 December 2010,

5880-471: The slavery practiced by Europeans on, for example, the plantations of the United States, the West Indies , and Brazil. The local slavery has been described by anthropologist M. McCulloch: [S]laves were housed close to the fresh tracts of land they cleared for their masters. They were considered part of the household of their owner, and enjoyed limited rights. It was not customary to sell them except for

5964-469: The societies of the time, including religious beliefs, political systems, and trade networks. In the centuries that followed, various other African civilizations rose to prominence, such as the Kingdom of Kush in northern Sudan and the powerful empires of Ghana , Mali , and Songhai in West Africa. In the late 15th century, European colonization began, leading to the enslavement of millions of Africans and

6048-439: The term "slave" to be more misleading than informative when describing the local practice. Abraham says that in most cases, "subject, servant, client, serf, pawn, dependent, or retainer" would be more accurate. Domestic slavery was abolished in Sierra Leone in 1928. McCulloch reports that at that time, amongst Sierra Leone's largest present-day ethnolinguistic group, the Mende , who then had about 560,000 people, about 15 per cent of

6132-406: The trading stations. When the RAC abandoned Bunce Island, Sargent and his partners purchased its factory in 1748, repaired it, and used it to trade in timber. They expanded to Batts, Bobs , Tasso , and Tumbu Islands and along the banks of the river, eventually becoming involved in the slave trade. The French sacked it again in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War . During the 17th century

6216-479: The vast majority of Native Africans can be considered to be "indigenous" in the sense that they originated from that continent and nowhere else (like all Homo sapiens ), identity as an "indigenous people" is in the modern application more restrictive. Not every African ethnic group claims identification under these terms. Groups and communities who do claim this recognition are those who by a variety of historical and environmental circumstances have been placed outside of

6300-607: The would-be settlers. The survivors relocated in April 1822 to Providence Island at Cape Mesurado in what developed as the nation of present-day Liberia . In 1861 the British Crown Colony at Freetown acquired Sherbro Island from the Sherbro people, putting it under the jurisdiction of its government. The Sherbro continued to live there. The colonial and later protectorate government administered it until Sierra Leone achieved independence in 1961. As of 2024, there

6384-407: Was among 1200 Black Loyalists resettled in Freetown in 1792. Kizell became a leader to a number of Sherbro people. The U.S. Congress passed an act on March 3, 1819, authorizing transport of freed blacks to their "motherland". The ACS began to develop a colony in Africa for free American blacks. It later became known as the Republic of Liberia . In this period, most free blacks (and enslaved) in

6468-532: Was called Bai Tura, Bai being a Mani form.) The Temne had thus expanded in a wedge toward the sea at Freetown, and now separated the Bulom to the north from the Mani and other Mande-speakers to the south and east. In this period there are several reports of women occupying high positions. The king of the south shore used to leave one of his wives to rule when he was absent, and in the Sherbro there were female chiefs. In

6552-473: Was connected with the Sulima Susu's capital city, Falaba . Its inhabitants worked at farming. Rodney has postulated two means by which slaving for export could have caused a local practice of using slaves for labour to develop: There are possible additional reasons for the adoption of slavery by the locals to meet their labour requirements: This local African slavery was much less harsh and brutal than

6636-541: Was dissent and reforms as the Creoles sought political rights, trade unions formed against colonial employers, and peasants sought greater justice from their chiefs. Sierra Leone has played a significant part in modern African political liberty and nationalism. In the 1950s, a new constitution united the Crown Colony and Protectorate , which had previously been governed separately. Sierra Leone gained independence from

6720-415: Was essentially an export business. The use of slaves as labourers by the local Africans appears to have developed only later. It may first have occurred under coastal chiefs in the late 18th century: The slave owners were originally white and foreigners, but the late eighteenth century saw the emergence of powerful slave-trading chiefs, who were said to own large numbers of 'domestic slaves'. For example, in

6804-459: Was estimated in 1789 that 74,000 slaves were exported annually from West Africa, about 38,000 by British firms." In 1788, a proslavery European named Matthews estimated the annual total exported from between the Nunez River (110 km north of Sierra Leone) and the Sherbro as 3,000. Participation in the Atlantic slave trade was gradually outlawed by various Western nations, beginning with

6888-465: Was from Falmouth, Cornwall , had been working with the RAC for more than a decade when he was appointed agent here in the late seventeenth century. He married the daughter of a Sherbro chief, and their two sons became the patriarchs of a family dynasty of traders and chiefs in the region. Shortly after being reassigned to The Gambia , he died on a business trip to England in 1700, but his descendants in Sierra Leone did well. After Great Britain abolished

6972-476: Was introduced to Sierra Leone by the 9th century, and by the end of the 10th century agriculture was being practiced by coastal tribes. Sierra Leone's dense tropical rainforest partially isolated the land from other African cultures and from the spread of Islam . This made it a refuge for people escaping subjugation by the Sahelian kingdoms , violence and jihads . European contacts with Sierra Leone were among

7056-582: Was part of the territory of the historic Sherbro people , who dominated a large area of what is now Sierra Leone. Today they are concentrated in the southern and central part of Moyamba District . They make up by far the largest ethnic group in the island, where the total population is 28,457. The island has more than 65 miles (105 km) of tropical beaches. It has been earmarked by the Ministry for Tourism and Development of Sierra Leone for tourism development. Swamp-rice cultivation, tourism, and fishing are

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