Bai Bureh

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Bai Bureh

Bai Bureh (ca. 1840-1908) was a Sierra Leonean ruler and military strategist who led the Temne uprising against the British and the Krios who were thought to have supported the British in Sierra Leone in 1898.

1 History
2 Rebellion
3 Famous Quotes
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Bai Bureh was born in 1840 in Kasseh, a small village in Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. His father was a local loko chief, in a village in Port Loko District, and his mother was a Temne woman from Makeni, Bombali District. When Bureh was a young boy, his father sent him to Gbendembu, a small villige in Tonkolili District to live with his uncle who was a local warrior. Here Bureh, along with other young boys in the village, learned how to fight from his uncle who was already a local warrior for the village. The young Bureh was given the nickname Kebalai meaning one who never tired of war by the villagers in Gbendembu. When he returned back to Kasseh village from training, he had become a strong man who wanted to protect his homeland, his property and his people.^[1]

During the 1860s and 1870's Bureh had become the top warrior of Port Loko District and the entire Northern Province. He successfuly fought and won wars against other villagers who were against his plan to establish correct Islamic and indigenous practices throughout the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. After wining his first major war, his popularity spread. The people of the Port Loko district felt they have found a warrior who would defend their land. In 1886, Bai Bureh was crowned as the chief of the entire Port Loko District.

[edit] Rebellion

As a ruler, Bureh never wanted to cooperate with the British who were living in the nation's capital Freetown. He refused to recognised the hut tax the British had imposed in 1893 in Sierra Leone. He did not believe the Sierra Leonean people had a duty to pay taxes to foreigners, and he wanted all British to return to Britain and let the Sierra Leoneans solve their own problems. After refusing to pay his taxes on several occasions, the British issued a warrant to arrest Bureh. In 1896 Bureh declared war on British in Sierra Leone. The war later became known as the Hut Tax War of 1898. He brought fighters from several temne vilages under his command, as well as fighters from Limba, loko, Soso, Kissi, and Mandingo villages. Bai Bureh's men not only killed the British soldiers, but also killed Krio people such as John 'Johnny' Taylor who was killed in his house because it was thought (by the indigeneous people of Sierra Leone)that he supported the British. Bai Bureh war was not only against the British but was also against the Krios who were thought to support the British. He had the advantage over the vastly more powerful British for several months of the war. Despite their arrest warrant, the British forces failed to defeat Bureh and his warriors fighters. Hundreds of British troops were killed, and hundreds of Bureh's fighters also died during the war.^[1]

Bai Bureh was finally captured on November 11, 1898 and taken under guard to Freetown, where crowds gathered around his quarters day and night to gain a glimpse of the great man.

The British sent Bai Bureh in exile to the Gold Coast (now Ghana), but brought him back in 1905, reinstating him as the Chief of Kasseh. Bai Bureh died in 1908.