Governor John Clarkson's diary and the origins of Sierra Leone

Object Details

Author

Sbacchi, Alberto

Smithsonian Libraries African Art Index Project DSI

Subject

Clarkson, John 1764-1828

Sierra Leone Company

The article explores the history of Sierra Leone taken from the diaries of its first governor, John Clarkson, and the reports of the Sierra Leone Company. The early settlers of St. George Bay (Granville Town), Flora Bay and Freetown consisted of ex-slaves and colonists (both black and white) primarily from Nova Scotia. Although there were people interested in helping the Negroes by abolishing slavery, the vast majority wanted a compromise between slavery and trade interests, and were willing to "keep slavery as long as it was economically profitable" and gradually replace it with legitimate trade such as Africa's raw materials and England's manufactured goods.

The Sierra Leone Company, established in 1790, sought to abolish slavery by blending business with philanthropy. In the long run the idea of economic development became the main purpose of the establishment of Sierra Leone. The directors of the Company anticipated high trading profits because they expected the termination of the slave trade, but slavery wasn't abolished until 1807. The subsequent failure of free trade in Sierra Leone was due to both the Company's competition with the slave trade and mismanagement.

1979

18th century

Call number

DT1 .J8585

Type

Articles

Place

Sierra Leone

Smithsonian Libraries

Topic

Colonization

Commerce

History

Record ID

siris_sil_788517

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0