Sierra Leone's history, told by its people.
Di Tɛmɛn Tɔri
A living archive · by the people of Sierra Leone
This day in Sierra Leone history
Content note: this day recalls slavery, war, disaster or death. Those entries are folded; tap one to read it. It is told as the sources tell it; recording it is not approving it.
November
5
2021
A hard day in our history. Tap to read →Fold it away
A fuel tanker explodes at Wellington, in the east of Freetown, as people gather to collect the fuel leaking from it after a crash.
Sources: Wikipedia: List of tank truck fires and explosions
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Stories
All stories →- 01Kingdoms of the Coast: Koya, the Mane and the SherbroLong before any colony, the coast and rivers of Sierra Leone had kings. Who ruled here, who came in the 1500s, and how Freetown was built on a kingdom's land.Tɔri Editorial Desk→
- 02The Schools That Made FreetownFreetown was schooling West Africa before most of the region had a secondary school. The schools that did it, from 1827 to 1926.Tɔri Editorial Desk→
- 03Bod Os: The Board Houses of FreetownWooden walls on stone, a verandah, shutters and a steep roof. Freetown's board houses were built by the settlers and their children, and they are disappearing.Tɔri Editorial Desk→
- 04Before the Colony: Stone, Iron and RiceLong before 1787, people were making tools, pots and farms in what is now Sierra Leone. Archaeologists have been digging up their story since the 1960s.Tɔri Editorial Desk→
The settlers who founded Freetown in 1792 are said to have given thanks beneath it. A century of it, one picture at a time.
1910s
The Mountain Railway stopped beside it. The tree already towered over the station.
The Cotton Tree, Bungalow Train
Lisk-Carew Brothers, Freetown · Public domain
What do you remember of it?
Next, then & now: State House →
More from the archive →Walk the city
The 1792 Settler Route
From the waterfront to the Cotton Tree: the path of Freetown's founding generation, told stop by stop.
4 stops
Start the walk →
Sound & words
Weekly quiz
How well do you know Freetown?
Take the quiz →
The Sierra Leone archive
Old photographs, stamps and film
1792 · 1900 · 1961
Open the archive →
