Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone | |||||||||||||||
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1808–1961 | |||||||||||||||
Flag (1916–1961) Coat of arms (1914–1960) | |||||||||||||||
Motto: Auspice Britannia liber (Latin: "Free under the protection of Britain") | |||||||||||||||
Anthem: God Save the King (1808–1837; 1901–1952) God Save the Queen (1837–1901; 1952–1961) | |||||||||||||||
Status | British colony | ||||||||||||||
Capital | Freetown | ||||||||||||||
Official languages | English | ||||||||||||||
Recognised national languages | Krio | ||||||||||||||
Religion | Christianity, Islam | ||||||||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||||||||
• 1808–1820 (first) | George III | ||||||||||||||
• 1952–1961 (last) | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||||||
• 1808 (first) | Thomas Ludlam | ||||||||||||||
• 1956–1961 (last) | Maurice Dorman | ||||||||||||||
Prime Minister a | |||||||||||||||
• 1954–1961 | Milton Margai | ||||||||||||||
Legislature | Legislative Council (1863–1954) House of Representatives (after 1954) | ||||||||||||||
Historical era | Abolitionism New Imperialism Decolonisation of Africa | ||||||||||||||
• Colony established | 1 January [1] 1808 | ||||||||||||||
• Protectorate established | 31 August 1896 [2] | ||||||||||||||
• Independence as Sierra Leone | 27 April 1961 | ||||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||||
1924 [3] | 81,999 km2 (31,660 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||||||
• 1808 [4] | 2,000 | ||||||||||||||
• 1924 [3] | 1,541,311 | ||||||||||||||
• 1955 [5] | 2,051,845 | ||||||||||||||
• 1960 [5] | 2,181,701 | ||||||||||||||
Currency | Pound sterling (1808–1912) British West African pound (1912–1961) | ||||||||||||||
ISO 3166 code | SL | ||||||||||||||
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Today part of | Sierra Leone | ||||||||||||||
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The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 [1] [6] to 1961, [1] [6] [7] part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crown colony, which included the area surrounding Freetown, was established in 1808. The protectorate was established in 1896 [2] [6] and included the interior of what is today known as Sierra Leone. [6]
The motto of the colony and protectorate was Auspice Britannia liber (Latin for "Free under the protection of Britain"). This motto was included on Sierra Leone's later flag and coat of arms. [8]
In the 1780s, London was home to several thousand freed slaves and Black Pioneers, who had gained their freedom fighting on the side of the British in the American Revolutionary War. After several avenues to employment were closed to them, many of the Black Poor ended up destitute, and received support from the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. This Committee eventually decided to persuade several hundred members of the Black Poor community to emigrate to Africa. [6] [9]
The Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme was proposed by entomologist Henry Smeathman and drew interest from humanitarians like Granville Sharp, who saw it as a means of showing the pro-slavery lobby that black people could contribute towards the running of the new colony of Sierra Leone. Government officials soon became involved in the scheme as well, although their interest was spurred by the possibility of resettling a large group of poor citizens elsewhere. [10] William Pitt the Younger, prime minister and leader of the Tory party, had an active interest in the Scheme, because he saw it as a means to repatriate the Black Poor to Africa, since "it was necessary they should be sent somewhere, and be no longer suffered to infest the streets of London". [11]
The British made an agreement with a Temne chief King Tom to have land on the coast for the settlement of freed slaves. In 1787, a naval vessel carrying 411 passengers, including freed slaves, Black Pioneers, their white wives, and mixed-race children, arrived on the coast. Opponents of miscegenation incorrectly labelled the white wives of these black men as prostitutes. The settlement became known as Granville Town. [12] [13]
Half of the settlers in the new colony died within the first year. Several black settlers started working for local slave traders. The settlers who remained forcibly captured land from a local chieftain, but he retaliated, attacking the settlement, which was reduced to a mere 64 settlers comprising 39 black men, 19 black women, and six white women. The settlers were captured by unscrupulous traders and sold into slavery, and the remaining colonists were forced to arm themselves for their own protection. King Tom's successor King Jemmy attacked and burned the colony in 1789. [6] [14]
A new colony was built on another site and became known as Freetown. In 1792 approximately 1,200 Nova Scotian Settlers, freed slaves and Black Pioneers from Nova Scotia, and in 1800 another 551 Jamaican Maroons from the Colony of Jamaica came to the new settlement. [6] The Settler descendants gradually developed as an ethnicity known as the Sierra Leone Creole people. [15] [16] [17] [18]
The British government abolished the slave trade in 1807. It took responsibility of Sierra Leone in 1808 and made it a Crown colony. [6]
On 17 October 1821, the Sierra Leone Colony was made part of British West Africa, an administrative entity consisting of British colonies in West Africa. The entity's original name was Colony of Sierra Leone and its Dependencies, after which it became British West African Territories and finally British West African Settlements. British West Africa was constituted during two periods, from 17 October 1821 until its first dissolution on 13 January 1850, and again from 19 February 1866 until its final demise on 28 November 1888. [1] Freetown served as the capital of British West Africa through the entity's entire existence. [1] [19]
On 31 August 1896, the hinterland of Sierra Leone became a British protectorate, thus creating Sierra Leone Protectorate. [1] [2] The boundaries were demarcated with French Guinea and Liberia. [2]
On 1 January 1928 the British abolished domestic slavery. [20]
In 1930 Sierra Leone Development Company (DELCO), a British company, started mining iron ore. [20]
In 1932 Sierra Leone Selection Trust, a subsidiary of the British Consolidated African Selection Trust (CAST), was set up to mine diamonds. [20]
In 1937 a "Native Administration" system, patterned after Lord Frederick Lugard's indirect rule system in northern Nigeria, was introduced into the Sierra Leone Protectorate. [20]
In 1938 Wallace Johnson started the West African Youth League in Freetown, mobilising workers in new trade unions against the colonial government. [20]
When World War II began in 1939, emergency powers were used to incarcerate Wallace Johnson. [20]
In 1947 a new constitution was proposed for the colony, which gave the majority of seats in Legislative Council to the majority population of the protectorate. [7]
In the post World War II era many members of the public in Sierra Leone began advocating for independence. Politicians led by Sir Milton Margai campaigned for this within the colonial government of Sierra Leone and throughout the 1950s won office on those grounds. Throughout the mid to late 1950s, Margai and many other Sierra Leone politicians petitioned the British government for independence. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan already supported the policy of granting independence to Britain's African colonies and ordered his government to receive the petitions and act on them. The next few steps, which Prime Minister Macmillan approved, were to create a stable path to a peaceful transfer of power. A referendum was held in Sierra Leone asking if the population of the country wanted independence. The majority voted in favour of independence in that referendum. Macmillan privately stated that he knew they would vote yes, however, this was a formality in order to show his own government that there was popular support within Sierra Leone for a British withdrawal. Margai and other Sierra Leone independence leaders supported the idea. After the referendum passed, as all involved assumed it would, the colonial administration in Freetown began holding elections to establish the government that would take over after the handover of power. These elections were won by Margai and his supporters. In May 1957, Sierra Leone held its first parliamentary election. The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), which was then the most popular political party in the colony of Sierra Leone as well as being supported by the powerful paramount chiefs in the provinces, won the most seats in Parliament and Margai was re-elected as Chief Minister by a landslide. On 20 April 1960, Margai led a 24-member Sierra Leonean delegation at constitutional conferences that were held with the Government of Macmillan and British Colonial Secretary Iain Macleod where the details of independence were agreed to. [21] [22] On the conclusion of talks in London on 4 May 1960, the United Kingdom agreed to grant Sierra Leone independence on 27 April 1961. [21] [22] [23]
On 27 April 1961 Sierra Leone was granted independence at a large ceremony in Freetown. Bands played, the Union Jack was lowered, respectfully folded, and handed to the Duke of Kent (at the time Prince Edward), the new blue, white and green flag of Sierra Leone was raised in its place, the Duke of Kent and Margai shook hands and the crowd cheered. [7] The last British Governor of Sierra Leone was sworn in by the new independent government as the Governor-General (Queen Elizabeth II's representative to the new country.) There was a brief state of emergency, as opposition leader Siaka Stevens, whose political party the All People's Congress (APC) had lost the previous elections to Margai boycotted the ceremony, and it was feared would try to sabotage the handover of power. It was feared the APC would attempt to incite riots, on this basis Stevens was placed under house arrest prior to the ceremony and released shortly afterwards. Ultimately however the transfer of power proved to be entirely peaceful. Messages of congratulations were sent from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and from Queen Elizabeth to the people of Sierra Leone and to Margai personally. Sierra Leone was granted independence as a dominion, along the same lines that Canada and Australia had been earlier, this meant that Sierra Leone was now an independent country with its own parliament and its own Prime Minister, however, Queen Elizabeth would remain the head of state. Thus began the history of the Dominion of Sierra Leone. [24]
Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate lasted until 1961 when it gained independence from the United Kingdom, with Elizabeth II as Queen of Sierra Leone. It retained her as head of state for a decade until 1971, when the country became a republic. [6]
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Its land area is 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi). It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 8,908,040. Freetown is both its capital and its largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into 16 districts.
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 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.
Sir Milton Augustus Strieby Margai was a Sierra Leonean physician and politician who served as the country's head of government from 1954 until his death in 1964. He was titled chief minister from 1954 to 1960, and then prime minister from 1961 onwards. Margai studied medicine in England, and upon returning to his homeland became a prominent public health campaigner. He entered politics as the founder and inaugural leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party. Margai oversaw Sierra Leone's transition to independence, which occurred in 1961. He died in office aged 68, and was succeeded as prime minister by his brother Albert. Margai enjoyed the support of Sierra Leoneans across classes, who respected his moderate style, friendly demeanor, and political savvy.
Siaka Probyn Stevens was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial rule and self-indulgence, consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation.
Sherbro Island is in the Atlantic Ocean, and is included within Bonthe District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. The island is separated from the African mainland by the Sherbro River in the north and Sherbro Strait in the east. It is 32 miles (51 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) wide, covering an area of approximately 230 square miles (600 km2). The western extremity is Cape St. Ann. Bonthe, on the eastern end, is the chief port and commercial centre.
Brigadier David Lansana was the first prominent Sierra Leonean in the Sierra Leone Military during the colonial era. After Sierra Leone gained independence, he served as Military Attaché to the United States.
Sir Albert Michael Margai was the second prime minister of Sierra Leone and the half-brother of Sir Milton Margai, the country's first Prime Minister. He was also the father of Sierra Leonean politician Charles Margai.
Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriots who served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown's guarantee of freedom.
The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. The company came about because of the work of the ardent abolitionists Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Henry Thornton, and Thomas's brother John Clarkson, who is considered one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone. The company was the successor to the St. George Bay Company, a corporate body established in 1790 that re-established Granville Town in 1791 for the 60 remaining Old Settlers.
The Temne, also called Atemne, Témené, Temné, Téminè, Temeni, Thaimne, Themne, Thimni, Timené, Timné, Timmani, or Timni, are a West African ethnic group. They are predominantly found in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Some Temne are also found in Guinea. The Temne constitute the largest ethnic group in Sierra Leone, at 35.5% of the total population, which is slightly bigger than the Mende people at 31.2%. They speak Temne, which belongs to the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo languages.
Thomas Peters, born Thomas Potters, was a veteran of the Black Pioneers, fighting for the British in the American Revolutionary War. A Black Loyalist, he was resettled in Nova Scotia, where he became a politician and one of the "Founding Fathers" of the nation of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Peters was among a group of influential Black Canadians who pressed the Crown to fulfill its commitment for land grants in Nova Scotia. Later they recruited African-American settlers in Nova Scotia for the colonisation of Sierra Leone in the late eighteenth century.
The Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor was a charitable organisation founded in London in 1786 to provide sustenance for distressed people of African and Asian origin. It played a crucial role in the proposal to form a colony for blacks in Sierra Leone. The work of the Committee overlapped to some extent with the campaign to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire.
Boston King was a former American slave and Black Loyalist, who gained freedom from the British and settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. He later immigrated to Sierra Leone, where he helped found Freetown and became the first Methodist missionary to African indigenous people.
The Nova Scotian Settlers, or Sierra Leone Settlers, were Black Canadians of African-American descent who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone and the Colony of Sierra Leone, on March 11, 1792. The majority of these black American immigrants were among 3,000 African Americans, mostly former slaves, who had sought freedom and refuge with the British during the American Revolutionary War, leaving rebel masters. They became known as the Black Loyalists. The Nova Scotian Settlers were jointly led by African American Thomas Peters, a former soldier, and English abolitionist John Clarkson. For most of the 19th century, the Settlers resided in Settler Town and remained a distinct ethnic group within the Freetown territory, tending to marry among themselves and with Europeans in the colony.
John Kizell was an American immigrant who became a leader in Sierra Leone as it was being developed as a new British colony in the early nineteenth century. Believed born on Sherbro Island, he was kidnapped and enslaved as a child and shipped to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was sold again. Years later, after the American Revolutionary War, during which he gained freedom with the British and was evacuated to Nova Scotia, he eventually returned to West Africa. In 1792, he was among 50 native-born Africans among the 1200 predominantly African-American Black Loyalists resettled in Freetown.
The Dominion of Sierra Leone was an independent sovereign state with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state between independence on 27 April 1961 and becoming the Republic of Sierra Leone on 19 April 1971.
Elizabeth II was Queen of Sierra Leone from 1961 to 1971, when Sierra Leone was an independent constitutional monarchy. She was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom. Her constitutional roles in Sierra Leone were mostly delegated to the governor-general of Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone Creole people are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Sierra Leone Creoles are 1.2 percent of the population of Sierra Leone.
The Constitution of Sierra Leone is the supreme law governing Sierra Leone and delineates its frame of government. It entered into force on October 1, 1991, following a popular referendum and approval by President Joseph Momoh. It superseded the 1978 Constitution.
Sierra Leonean nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Sierra Leone, as amended; the Citizenship Act, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Sierra Leone. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. In Britain and thus the Commonwealth of Nations, though the terms are often used synonymously outside of law, they are governed by different statutes and regulated by different authorities. Sierra Leonean nationality is based on descent from a person who is Negro-African, regardless of whether they were born in Sierra Leone, jus soli, or abroad to a Sierra Leonean, jus sanguinis. The Negro clause was inserted based upon the founding of the colony as a refuge for former slaves to prevent economically powerful communities from obtaining political power. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalisation.