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46-412: Historically, this 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

92-403: A Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership, but active political freedom (libertas) , including the right to vote. A slave who had acquired libertas was known as a libertus ("freed person", feminine liberta ) in relation to his former master, who was called his or her patron ( patronus ) . As a social class, freed slaves were liberti , though later Latin texts used

138-691: 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 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

184-555: 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 the international African slave trade in 1808 in partnership with the United States, it used the former RAC trading fort on Sherbro Island as

230-618: 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 , 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

276-600: 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 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

322-497: 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 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 ,

368-408: A larger group), or self-purchase. A fugitive slave is a person who escaped enslavement by fleeing. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become plebeian citizens . The act of freeing a slave was called manumissio , from manus , "hand" (in the sense of holding or possessing something), and missio , the act of releasing. After manumission , a slave who had belonged to

414-540: A precedent whereby freedmen could be used as civil servants in the Roman bureaucracy . In addition, Claudius passed legislation concerning slaves, including a law stating that sick slaves abandoned by their owners became freedmen if they recovered. The emperor was criticized for using freedmen in the Imperial Courts. Some freedmen enjoyed enormous success and became quite wealthy. The brothers who owned House of

460-633: Is a Mende-speaking ethnic Sherbro from the Gola Rainforest region of the country. The Sherbro are primarily fishermen and traders . They have a rich culture and have integrated some western culture and ideals. Their culture is unlike that of all other ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. The ethnic group in the nation whose culture is similar (in terms of embrace of Western culture) are the Krio people , descended largely from African Americans (known as Black Loyalists ), who had been freed from slavery by

506-399: 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

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552-580: The American Civil War . They supported the Confederacy during the war, supplying some warriors in the West, as they were promised their own state if the Confederacy won. After the end of the war, the U.S. required these tribes to make new peace treaties, and to emancipate their African slaves. They were required to offer full citizenship in their tribes to those freedmen who wanted to stay with

598-559: The American Revolution ) had been joined by Maroons deported from Jamaica , Liberated Africans freed from illegal traders, and some of 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

644-800: The Arab - Muslim world . They also enslaved Europeans (known as Saqaliba ), as well as Caucasian and Turkic peoples, from coastal areas of the Mediterranean Region , the Balkans , Central Asia , and the Eurasian steppes . The offspring of Mamluks were regarded as Muslim freedmen, and hence excluded from the Arab-Muslim slave trade; they were known as the awlād al-nās ("sons of respectable people"), who either fulfilled scribal and administrative functions or served as commanders of

690-888: The Atlantic slave trade . The slaves of the Eastern slave trade came mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa , Northwestern Africa , Southern Europe , Slavic countries , the Caucasus , and the Indian subcontinent , and were imported by the Arab-Muslim slave traders into the Middle East and North Africa , the Horn of Africa , and the islands of the Indian Ocean . For centuries, Arab-Muslim slave traders took and transported an estimated 10 to 15 million native Africans to slavery throughout

736-565: The early Muslim conquests throughout the Arab - Muslim world from the 7th to the 20th centuries, peaking in the 18th and 19th centuries. This term, which covers the Arab-Muslim slave trade, is symmetrical with the term "Western slave trade", which refers to the triangular trade on the Western coasts of Africa that supplied the European colonization of the Americas , and which includes

782-539: The "Civil War Amendments" or the " Reconstruction Amendments ". To help freedmen transition from slavery to freedom, including a free labor market, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln created the Freedmen's Bureau , which assigned agents throughout the former Confederate states. The Bureau also founded schools to educate freedmen, both adults and children; helped freedmen negotiate labor contracts; and tried to minimize violence against freedmen. The era of Reconstruction

828-563: The 15th century, when Portuguese explorers, settlers, and traders came to the area. The English followed soon after and, in the 1620s, they had a number of agents trading and purchasing items in the Sherbro Country. The Sherbro intermarried with them. Like the later Krio, who developed in Sierra Leone after the colony was established, the Sherbro have a more westernized culture than that of other indigenous ethnic groups there. From

874-631: 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 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

920-573: The 18th century, they began to get involved in the slave trade and became more powerful than the European slave traders. They began to employ the Mende people to work for them to find slaves to meet the growing demand. In the 1920s, the Sherbro people were still being ruled by their own chiefs. The Sherbro were one of many indigenous peoples living in the territory of Sierra Leone before the colonial era. The first interaction with Europeans came during

966-512: The British during the American Revolutionary War , resettled in Nova Scotia , and then chose to go to Freetown in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. after the American Revolutionary War . The Sherbro and the Krio are close allies; they have intermarried since early colonial settlements in the 1790s. The Sherbro have been an indigenous people in the territory now known as Sierra Leone. In

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1012-539: The Confederacy —states in rebellion and not under the control of the Union —to be permanently free. It did not end slavery in the four border states that had stayed in the Union. African slavery elsewhere was abolished by state action or with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in December 1865. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 , passed over the veto of U.S. President Andrew Johnson , gave

1058-577: The Creoles intermarried with their allies the Sherbros from as far back as the 18th century. However, since the independence of Sierra Leone, all ethnic groups in Sierra Leone have been inter-marrying increasingly. Freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery , usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of

1104-473: The Ministry for Tourism and Development of Sierra Leone for tourism development. Swamp-rice cultivation, tourism, and fishing are 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

1150-458: 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 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

1196-636: The Sherbro in Southeastern Sierra Leone, and the Sherbro in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. The Sherbro in Southeastern Sierra Leone, which is home to most of the Sherbro population of Sierra Leone, are a close ally of their neighbor the Mende people , and most Sherbro in Southeastern Sierra Leone speak the Mende language and they have integrated large amounts of the Mende tradition along with their native Sherbro tradition. However,

1242-620: The Sherbro in the Western Area (in and around Freetown ) are traditionally allies of the Krio people ; and Sherbro in the Western Area in Sierra Leone have also integrated large amounts of Krio tradition. Unlike most Sherbro in Southeastern Sierra Leone, most Sherbro in the Western Area of Sierra Leone do not speak the Mende language. Politically the vast majority of Sherbro support the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The current president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio ,

1288-499: The Sherbro people. Because some of the Sherbro interacted with Portuguese and English traders and intermarried with them in the mid-fifteenth to eighteenth centuries (producing Afro-European clans such as the Sherbro Tuckers and Sherbro Caulkers ), some of the Sherbro have a more westernized culture than that of other Sierra Leone ethnic groups. As Creoles settled in places such as Bonthe for trading and missionary purposes,

1334-698: The Sherbro river system north of the island. In May 2013, the Government of Sierra Leone's record of the island's population was 28,457. 7°33′N 12°42′W  /  7.550°N 12.700°W  / 7.550; -12.700 Sherbro people The Sherbro people are a native people of Sierra Leone , who speak the Sherbro language ; they make up 1.9% of Sierra Leone's population or 134,606. The Sherbro are found primarily in their homeland in Bonthe District , where they make up 40% of

1380-550: The South via military districts enacted by the Reconstruction Acts ; they protected freedmen in voting polls and public facilities from violence and intimidation by white Southerners, which were common throughout the region. The Cherokee Nation , Choctaw Nation , Chickasaw Nation , Seminole Nation of Oklahoma , and Creek Nation were among those Native American tribes that held enslaved Africans before and during

1426-521: The United Kingdom and Europe voluntarily, planning to settle in Australia, some as pastors and missionaries, others seeking to make a living by trade or farming. When convicts finished their sentence, they were freed and referred to as "freedmen" or "freed men". However, many of these who were freed wanted to claim the label "free men". But those who had come freely to Australia wanted to reserve

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1472-584: The Vettii , one of the biggest and most magnificent houses in Pompeii , are thought to have been freedmen. A freedman who became rich and influential might still be looked down on by the traditional aristocracy as a vulgar nouveau riche . Trimalchio , a character in the Satyricon of Petronius , is a caricature of such a freedman. The term "Eastern slave trade" refers to the Arab slave trade that supplied

1518-468: The beginning of the settlement of liberated slaves in Sierra Leone, the ancestors of the Krio generally intermarried with their allies the Sherbro. Many Sherbro assimilate as Krio (or Creole ), as they share the Christian faith and Western names. According to Anaïs Ménard, the only Sierra Leonean ethnic group whose culture is similar (in terms of its embrace of Western culture) are Westernized members of

1564-710: The first ACS sponsored group to Sherbro Island. Disease and fever quickly killed more than a quarter of 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

1610-404: The formerly enslaved peoples full citizenship in the United States , though this did not guarantee them voting rights. The 14th Amendment made "All persons born or naturalized in the United States" citizens of the United States. The 15th Amendment gave voting rights to all adult males; only adult males had the franchise among White Americans . The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are known as

1656-668: The non-Mamluk ḥalqa troops, serving the ruling Arab and Ottoman dynasties in the Muslim world . In the history of the United States , the terms "freedmen" and "freedwomen" refer chiefly to former African slaves emancipated during and after the American Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . African slaves freed before the war (usually by individual manumissions , often in wills ) were generally referred to as "free Negroes" or "free Blacks". In addition, there

1702-720: The north of the island. Some went first to Spanish-ruled Cuba , from where they immigrated to New Orleans in 1808 and 1809 after being expelled when Napoleon invaded Spanish territories in Western Europe . Many brought slaves with them. Their numbers strengthened the French-speaking community of enslaved African peoples, as well as the free people of color. Other refugees from Saint-Domingue settled in Charleston , Savannah , and New York . The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 declared all enslaved peoples in

1748-685: The original group). In addition to arguing that the post-Civil War treaties gave them citizenship, the freedmen have argued that the Dawes Rolls were often inaccurate, recording as freedmen even those individuals who had partial Cherokee ancestry and were considered Cherokee by blood. The Choctaw freedmen and Creek freedmen have similarly struggled with their respective tribes over the terms of citizenship in contemporary times. The tribes have wanted to limit those who can benefit from tribal citizenship, in an era in which gaming casinos are yielding considerable revenues for members. The majority of members of

1794-420: The population, in coastal areas of Moyamba District, and in the Western Area of Sierra Leone, particularly in Freetown . During pre-colonial days, the Sherbro were one of the most dominant ethnic group in Sierra Leone, but in the early 21st century, the Sherbro comprise a small minority in the nation. The Sherbro speak their own language, called Sherbro language . The Sherbro are divided into two main groups:

1840-654: 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 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

1886-465: The terms libertus and libertini interchangeably. Libertini were not entitled to hold public office or state priesthoods , nor could they achieve legitimate senatorial rank . During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law. Any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. The Claudian Civil Service set

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1932-455: The tribes have voted to limit membership. Descendants of freedmen, however, maintain that their rights to citizenship granted under the post-Civil War treaties should be restored. In 2017, the Cherokee freedmen were granted citizenship again in the tribe. Many convicted people from the United Kingdom were sentenced to be transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. Also, many came from

1978-573: The tribes. Numerous families had intermarried by that time or had other personal ties. If freedmen left the tribes, they would become U.S. citizens. In the late 20th century, the Cherokee Nation voted for restrictions on membership to only those descendants of people listed as "Cherokee by blood" on the Dawes Rolls of the early 20th century, a decision that excluded most Cherokee Freedmen (by that time this term referred to descendants of

2024-562: Was a population of African Americans born free. In addition, there were sizable communities of free peoples of African descent in the French Caribbean colonies , such as Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and Guadeloupe . Due to the violence of the Haitian Revolution , many free people of color, who were originally part of the revolution, fled the island as refugees after being attacked by slave rebels , particularly in

2070-583: Was an attempt to establish new governments in the former Confederacy and to bring freedmen into society as voting citizens. Northern church bodies, such as the American Missionary Association and the Free Will Baptists , sent teachers to the South to assist in educating freedmen and their children, and eventually established several colleges for higher education. U.S. Army occupation soldiers were stationed throughout

2116-452: 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 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

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