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
Literature of Sierra Leone Joe A. D. Alie, born in Moyamba, Sierra Leone, is a Professor at Fourah Bay College, the University of Sierra Leone. He has published a number of textbooks, including "A New History of Sierra Leone" and "A Concise Guide to Writing College and Research Papers". Osman A. Sankoh was born in Warima, Sierra Leone. He has been awarded the 1987 University of Sierra Leone Prize for Academic Excellence as well as the 1996 German Academic Exchange Service Prize for Academic Excellence and Exceptional Social Engagements by a Foreign Student. In 2007, he became the Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network.