Place · city

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, on the Sierra Leone Peninsula at the mouth of the Sierra Leone River. It was founded in 1792 by the Sierra Leone Company as a settlement for freed slaves, including Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia, after the earlier Province of Freedom collapsed. It became the capital of the British colony in 1808 and a base for the Royal Navy's campaign against the Atlantic slave trade.

Freetown
Image: David Hond · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 5 state histories

Koya Temne kingdomProvince of FreedomSierra Leone Colony and ProtectorateBritish West AfricaWassoulou Empire

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Freetown. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/freetown
MLA
“Freetown.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/freetown. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Freetown.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/freetown.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Freetown’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/freetown (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻