History of Sierra Leone called 'Captured negroes', 'Recaptives' or 'Liberated Africans'. In 1808, the British Crown Colony of Sierra Leone was founded, with Freetown serving as the capital of British West Africa. The city's population expanded rapidly with freed slaves, who established suburbs on the Freetown Peninsula. They were joined by West Indian and African soldiers who settled in Sierra Leone after fighting for Britain in the Napoleonic Wars. In the early 1800s, Sierra Leone was a small colony extending a few kilometres (a few miles) up the peninsula from Freetown. The bulk of the territory that makes up present-day Sierra Leone was still
University of Sierra Leone University of Sierra Leone The University of Sierra Leone is the name of the former unitary public university system in Sierra Leone, which, as of May 2005, was reconstituted into the individual colleges of Fourah Bay College and Njala University college. The University of Sierra Leone has its origins in the Fourah Bay College. This college was established in February 1827 as an Anglican missionary school by the Church Missionary Society with support from Charles MacCarthy, the governor of Sierra Leone. Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first student to enroll at Fouray Bay. Fourah Bay College soon became a magnet