Maroon Town, Sierra Leone, is a district in the settlement of

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

, a colony founded in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

History

Following their defeat in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, the British had resettled African Americans in the British colony of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

(now a province of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

). However, many did not like the colder climate and poor treatment they received, so in 1792 about 1200 to 1800 of them emigrated to Sierra Leone. This move was welcomed by the

Sierra Leone Company The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the Freetown, second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia (the Nova Scotian Settler ...

, which wanted to reestablish a colony, but lacked colonists. Once there, the

Nova Scotian Settlers The Nova Scotian Settlers, or Sierra Leone Settlers (also known as the Nova Scotians or more commonly as the Settlers), were Black Britons or Black Canadians who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone and the Colony of Sierra Leone, ...

(as they came to be called) and Sierra Leone Company surveyors founded

. A second group, the

Jamaican Maroons Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery in the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of Free black people in Jamaica, free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern Pari ...

, originally numbering just under 600 men, women and children who had surrendered following the

Second Maroon War The Second Maroon War of 1795–1796 was an eight-month conflict between the Maroons of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town), a Maroon settlement later renamed after Governor Edward Trelawny at the end of First Maroon War, located near Trelawny ...

in Jamaica, were transported to Nova Scotia in 1796. In 1800, unhappy with their new home, 550 Maroons emigrated to Freetown. The Nova Scotian Settlers had sought to obtain better treatment and more power, clashing constantly with the colonial governors and the Sierra Leone Company since first setting foot in the colony in 1792, but the timely arrival of the "battle-tested" Maroons and a detachment of 45 soldiers and two officers aboard the ship ''Asia'' enabled the authorities to put down a rebellion by some of the Nova Scotian Settlers and win the power struggle. Three rebels were tried and executed, and the other 33 or 34 prisoners were banished. The Maroons were granted land west of Settler Town, between Walpole Street and King Tom, which became known as Maroon Town. In 1822, uncomfortable worshipping in Nova Scotian chapels, the Maroons built the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

St. John's Maroon Church, in the centre of Maroon Town. By the 1830s, the Maroons had integrated into Freetown society and become a part of the

Sierra Leone Creole people 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 be ...

References

*''Back to Africa: George Ross and the Maroons: From Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone'', by Mavis Christine Campbell

External links

Photo postcard captioned "View of Maroon Town from Tower Hill"
{{coord missing, Sierra Leone Neighbourhoods in Freetown Populated places established by Sierra Leone Creoles Jamaican Maroons Jamaican Maroon establishments 1800 establishments in the British Empire

History

See also

References

External links