The written history of Sierra Leone begins in 1462 when the Portuguese arrived (the country gets its name from the Portuguese name for Lion Mountains “Serra Leoa”) but the arrival of the Europeans began the nation’s unhappy involvement in the slave trade. The Portuguese had carried out limited slavery and the process accelerated with the arrival of the British in the late 1600s. They needed a large number of slaves to work on the plantations in their colonies in America and the Caribbean. The rise in the importance of slavery can be seen in the establishment of the Bunce Island Slave Castle. Located 20 miles upriver from Freetown the castle was established by the British in 1670. It acted as a processing centre for slaves captured inland. They were brought to the castle and kept in appalling conditions; shackled and branded then shipped across the Atlantic. Many did not make it onto the boats; they died on the island due to disease, starvation and violence at the hands of the slave traders. Tens of thousands passed through the castle until it was shut down following the abolition of the slave trade by the British Parliament in 1807.
The capital Freetown, Hull's twin town, was established in 1792 as a home for freed slaves who had fought on the British side in the American War of Independence. The British then annexed the country to make it a Crown Colony in 1808. A position it maintained until independence on April 27th, 1961. | 
