Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, General Research and Reference Division

Élisée Reclus, The Earth and Its Inhabitants, Africa, vol. III (New York: D. Appleton, 1890–1893)

Before the arrival of settlers of African origin from England, Canada, Jamaica, the United States, and other parts of Africa, Sierra Leone was home to several peoples, including the Temne, Mende, Mandingo, Fulani (pictured here), Kru, and Bulom. The peoples of Sierra Leone were mostly farmers, traders, herders, and fishermen. Many had been victims of the transatlantic slave trade that transported their family members to the Americas. Some of the people who settled in the country after their liberation from American slavery had actually come from Sierra Leone.