Today is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, a day to remind us of the tragedy of the slave trade.
The slave trade began with the British, a third of all victims of the transatlantic slave trade (3.5 million African slaves) were brought to the "New World" by Britain between 1670 and 1833.
It all began with slaves;
Slaves served as the primary workforce for the British on tobacco and sugar cane plantations across their colonies. During that period, the greatest economic activity in West Africa was the slave trade, locals sold others and were sold as slaves.
The abolition of the slave trade wasn't easy because European political forces, especially the British Empire, were involved in the slave trade and had financial backing from the British people and Empire.
After a spirited fight against slavery from clergymen and Quakers, slavery was outlawed in Great Britain after a judge determined that it was not covered by English law in 1772. The reason why this victory couldn’t be celebrated was that the majority of slaves held by British citizens lived in British colonies where this ruling did not apply. Although it was outlawed in English territory, slave labour continued to be the mainstay of British foreign colonies for many years after.
Where do freed slaves go?
There was also the issue of where the freed slaves will live. When former slaves went back to their native country, they had to deal with the harsh realities of their new surroundings, and their freedom was once again in danger. In order to resettle the African Diaspora in Africa, the British, who sought to abolish the slave trade, built Sierra Leone, formerly called the "Province of Freedom."
The foundation for the creation of Sierra Leone was the release of a sizable number of slaves who had been brought to England to do labour many of whom had been residing on the Caribbean estates of absentee British plantation owners.
Many people believe that the objective was to rid Britain of black people, as they were seen as a threat to the purity of the white race. On May 10, 1787, English ships anchored in Frenchman's Bay, bringing 380 free black ex-slaves to the Province of Freedom.
A whole new but hard world
Chiefs of the West African Tenme ethnic group first negotiated with abolitionists and sold the land of the first settlement of freed slaves. Disputes over the territory emerged shortly after; many freed slaves who intended to live and rule in the utopian community were caught and sold back into slavery, while others turned from slaves to slavers.
This initial colony was wiped out by sickness, famine, and conflict from its neighbours, it lasted just around two and a half years.
Following the colony's first collapse, the British took control of the area and attempted to salvage it.
The surviving inhabitants built Granville Town around what is now Cline Town. Additionally, with help from the British Empire, roughly 1,200 Black Loyalists crossed the Atlantic in 1792 to found Sierra Leone's second colony and the town of Freetown.
These people had been given property in Nova Scotia, Canada, where they endured racial prejudice and hard winters. In 1800, the Maroons, a third group of liberated slaves, emigrated from Jamaica to the Sierra Leone province. After the formal British abolition of slavery, over 85,000 African recaptives were forcefully transported to Freetown by Royal Navy anti-slave trade patrols.
Modern day Sierra Leone
Pedro de Sintra, a Portuguese navigator who was the first European to see and chart Freetown Harbor, is credited with giving the nation its name. Serra Lyoa, which translates to "Lion Mountains" in the original Portuguese, was the name given to the hills that surround the harbor.
The political and social structures in Sierra Leone are still precarious, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. The protection of property rights is insufficient, the judicial system fails to maintain proper standards of impartiality and independence, and there is a lack of significant progress in education, health, and living conditions. The country has been riddled with war and internal conflict, the Land of Freedom has not been a free as you would imagine.