Travel Tips

The Portuguese set up a fort and trading post in the 1490’s for trading for slaves, gold, spices and ivory in the area that is now Freetown. This area of West African has one of the best natural ports in the world this was of great interest to the early navigators and traders. The mountains of Freetown have a great deal of rain thunder and lightning and the first Portuguese hearing the thunder roar called the place the Mountain Lion (Sierra Leone).

(The following information was on a really nice radio program by BBC I listened to a few years ago and is placed here after requesting permission from BBC but good stuff the site is http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/contact/index.shtml) This program is available on line by BBC to listen to and is much more fun than reading.

Olaudah Equiano was appointed commissary of provisions and stores for the emigrant poor going to Sierra Leone. Following the American war of independence there was also a large number of slaves and freed slaves who had fought on the British side of the war. These black British loyalists were paid with land in Canada, but the hostility of white loyalists and the harsh climate made them sign up for Sierra Leone as well. In the mid-seventeenth century the British began to look at Sierra Leone with some interest. In 1772 slavery was abolished in England, and a naval base was established at Freetown to intercept slave ships. The Sierra Leone resettlement scheme was designed to provide a new life for 400 destitute mainly black people in London. This was also seen by some as a good way of disposing of a troublesome minority.

They were followed by Maroons - slaves who had rebelled against the British in Jamaica and been sent to Nova Scotia as punishment; given the choice, the Maroons left Nova Scotia too for Sierra Leone. Thousands of slaves were returned to or liberated in Freetown. Most chose to remain in Sierra Leone. These returned Africans--or Creoles as they came to be called--were from all areas of Africa. Cut off from their homes and traditions by the experience of slavery, they assimilated British styles of life and built a flourishing trade on the West African coast.

In the early 19th century, Freetown served as the residence of the British governor who also ruled the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the Gambia settlements. All together over 40,000 slaves were freed and returned to Freetown.

Sierra Leone was made a colony in 1808 and the hinterland was proclaimed a protectorate in 1896. In the early years of the colony Sierra Leoneans were great traders. In the middle of the 19th century, Sierra Leone became a great center for education in West Africa and beyond. Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone stands as one of the oldest colleges of further education, founded in 1827, with an academic reputation which extended throughout West Africa. For more than a century, it was the only European-style University in Western Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Sierra Leone resettlement scheme was designed to provide a new life for 400 destitute mainly black people in London. This was also seen by some as a good way of disposing of a troublesome minority. Olaudah Equiano was appointed commissary of provisions and stores for the emigrant poor going to Sierra Leone.
Following the American war of independence there was also a large number of slaves and freed slaves who had fought for the British. These black loyalists were rewarded with land in Nova Scotia, but the hostility of white loyalists and the harsh climate made them sign up for Sierra Leone too.

When Freetown was founded, Pa Demba ruled a small village near the junction of modern Campbell Street and Pademba Road; and his little town was probably the closest Temne village to the Freetown settlement. In September, 1794, five French warships sailed into the harbour and attacked the tiny colony. The French fired their great cannons time and again at the fragile houses, driving the British officers and Nova Scotian settlers into the surrounding countryside. Then they landed and looted the houses and storerooms and set fire to every building, including the church, governor's house, and apothecary shop.

The Nova Scotian settlers were in a desperate situation. The rainy season had not yet ended, and they had no shelter and no food to last them until the harvest. Worse still, they were in constant danger of attack by the Koya Temne, who felt the British had cheated them to obtain land for the new colony. The settlers were helpless and surrounded by enemies, and in this volatile situation, Pa Demba stepped forward. He offered his little village as a refuge for the Nova Scotian school mistress and all the children of the colony, and agreed to take in as many of the other homeless as he possibly could. He made this compassionate gesture despite the fact that it was the hungry season for his own people and despite the bitter feelings of the other Temne chiefs who would have liked to see the Freetown colony destroyed. Pa Demba set aside political differences and did what was humanly right. He is a powerful symbol of reconciliation among the ethnic groups, and his example shows that when times are difficult, Sierra Leoneans come together as one people, and one nation.