The Republic of Sierra Leone celebrates its Independence Day on April 27. On this day in 1961, Sierra Leone declared its independence from the United Kingdom.
The territory of present-day Sierra Leone became inhabited by indigenous African tribes at least 2.5 millennia ago. The first Europeans to set foot in what is now Sierra Leone were the Portuguese in the late 15th century. For a while they maintained a fort near the Freedom estuary (an important source of drinking water). Some Portuguese sailors chose to stay in Africa permanently to trade with the local people and even married local women.
From the late 15th to the mid-19th centuries, Sierra Leone, along with the rest of West Africa, was one of the centers of the Atlantic slave trade. Portuguese, Dutch, French and British merchants all engaged in slave trade in the region, annually exporting tens of thousands of slaves from West Africa.

свернуть