Freetown was founded in 1792 as a colony for freed slaves (after the British in particular exploited the country of Sierra Leone and its people horrifically by forcibly enslaving the natives and shipping them off to Britain and America - but more on that another time!) The colony led to the diverse nature of Freetown as the freed slaves weren't all originally from Sierra Leone and each person brought with them their own languages, cultures, religions and traditions. Descendants from the freed slaves are still present in Sierra Leone and are known as Creoles. The language Krio (a form of almost pigeon English) is the language developed so all could communicate with each other, despite language barriers and origination.
A large cotton tree stands in the centre of the now sprawling city providing an unusual sight of green. History states the tree was the site of a sermon delivered to the first settlers and the site of the first recorded baptist service in Africa. The cotton tree really became important when a large of freed slaves who had earned their freedom by fighting for the British gathered under the tree upon their arrival into Freetown and sang hymns to thank god for their deliverance to a free land. The tree still symbolises every mans freedom today.
Various attempts to take over Freetown by both the French an indigenous African tribes were unsuccessful and Britain took control of Freetown in 1808, establishing Freetown as a crown colony. Sierra Leone was given its independence in 1961.
Following a turbulent period of internal politics a ten year civil war broke out in Sierra Leone that ended in 2001 and Freetown saw more than it's far share of the conflict. To this day burnt out buildings can be found and part built enterprises that were never completed.
One of the many issues with Freetown is the roads. The roads were never built to sustain the amount of traffic that attempts to pass through them these days, leading to horrific traffic jams where it can take you several hours to cross the city (normally a half hour journey) Late afternoon regularly finds the traffic gridlocked and at a complete standstill for hours on end. If you are lucky enough to be moving you are attempting to dodge the street sellers and crowds of people spilling out into the street as Freetown isn't renowned for it's pavements and orderly shop fronts either!
All in all a day in Freetown is guaranteed to be a long one, but if like me you love people watching then it's also guaranteed to be an interesting one too.
Apologies for lack of quality of the photos but please bear in mind they were taken on the iPhone from a moving vehicle! Will try and get some quality shots of Freetown soon.
