Sierra Leone Liberated Africans

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The Sierra Leone Liberated Africans were freed by the Royal Navy from slave ships rescued on the high seas and brought to Freetown, now Sierra Leone's capital city. After the British abolished the slave trade in 1808 the Royal Navy started patrolling along the African coast and high seas, seizing all slave vessels. Most liberated Africans were sent to Freetown, others were sent to Liberia, Saint Helena, Guyana and the British West Indies. Over 40.000 Liberated Africans arrived in Freetown between 1808 and about 1855. There they were given land, baptised and given Christian names, first as well as last names. It took decades for them and other groups of settlers to mix with each other and form a distinctive etnic group (the Krio).