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Written history begins
All information taken from Beah's book A Long Way Gone. Dates are approximate because Time Toast requires a day/month. "The written history of Sierra Leone begins when Portuguese explorers land, naming the mountains surrounding what is now Freetown Serra Lyoa (Lion Mountains) dur to their leonine shape" (219). -
Period: to
Sierra Leone - A Chronology
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First North American slaves
"The first slaves in North America are brought from Sierra leone to the Sea Islands, off the coast of southern United States" (220). -
First British colony
"Freetown becomes one of Britain's first colonies in West Africa" (220). -
Seirra Leone beomes British Crown Colony
"Sierra Leone becomes a British crown colony. The British government uses Freetown as its naval base for antislavery patrols" (220). -
Amistad
"Slaves aboard a ship called the Amistad revolt to secure their freedom. Their leader, Sengbe Pieh - or Joseph Cinque, as he becomes known in the United States - is a young Mende man from Sierra Leone" (220). -
Constitution enacted
"A constitution is enactd by the British to give some power to the inhabitants, providing a framework for decononization" (221). -
Sierra Leone becomes independent
"Sierra Leone becomes independent, with Sir Milton Margai as its first prime minister. The country opts for a pariamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations. The following year, Sir Milton Margai's Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), which led the country to independence, wins the general election under universal adult franchise" (221). -
Students protest
"Students demonstrate against government corruption and embezzlement of funds [ after years of military coups and disruption to civilian government]" (222). -
Revolutionary United Front attacks
"A small band of men who call themselves Revolutionary United Front (RUF), under the leadership of a former corporal, Foday Sankoh, begin to attack the villages in eastern Sierra Leone, on the Liberian border" (222). -
Civil war ends
"President kabbah declares the civil war officially over" (224). -
Charles Taylor taken into custody
"After discussions with the newly elected Liberian president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria says that Liberia is free to take Charles Taylor, who has been living in exile in Nigeria, into custody" (225-6).
