Sierra Leone Imperialism Essay

Effect of Imperialism in Sierra Leone
In 1787, British humanitarian founded the "Province of Freedom" which later became Freetown, a British crown colony in 1808 and the principal base for the suppression of the slave trade. Throughout the 19th century, the colony steadily grew through various treaties of friendship from the local chiefs. After the British abolished their slave trade the new colony was used as cornerstone from which the abolishment could be enforced (Gascoigne, Bamber). By 1855, over 50,000 freed slaves has been settled in Freetown the capital of Sierra Leone (Hopkins, Mark). However because of some mistakes by the British imperialists Sierra Leone had multiple rebellions and military coups also a horrible civil war in 1991
Within a month of entering Sierra Leone, the RUF under the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Saybana Sankoh controlled much of Eastern Sierra Leone, including the diamond mining area in Kono District. Sankoh, an ethnic Temne from Tonkolili District in Northern Sierra Leone, was a British trained former army corporal who had also undergone guerrilla training in Libya. This threw the entire country into mayhem and into civil war. The British aided the civil war by leaving the Sierra Leoneans with a poorly constructed government (Shah,
The British allowed Sierra Leone to be divided into a Colony and a Protectorate with separate and different political systems constitutionally defined for each. Which caused conflict that allowed a civil war and corruption to stain the country. The British also allowed illegal selling and smuggling of diamonds which also caused corruption and war. Without the rule of Britain and just assistance both Sierra Leone and the British would have benefited and they could have avoided much of the blood shed and saved thousands of