The Children's War

When Britain really became active against the system of slavery that had helped it become the world's most powerful economy after the practice was abolished by law in 1807, they were faced with two interesting dilemmas. Both rivalries with major European powers and interdiction efforts required that the English establish a presence in West Africa, whether a colony or a company. The first reason for this was the need for a place to put the slaves freed through their efforts (they couldn't exactly ship them back to the places they'd been sold from) who all spoke different languages and came from vastly different traditions; the second was how to integrate Western Africa into the world trading system as its economy was almost exclusively dictated by slavery. Their solution was classically colonialist even if one admires the basic humanity underlying it. Sierra Leone's settlers would become Anglised Christians within a generation and would come to dominate the administrative and professional classes; "natives" would adapt to the new way of doing things or perish.1

This phase of their effort lasted until 1896, when a British Protectorate was established during the redevision of the continent which occured during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. English administrators began to take back what little power they had allowed the "Creoles" (as the settlers were called) to hold because Africa was once again becoming strategically important from a European perspective. A house tax imposed by the British to pay for administration of the colony led to a short-lived uprising in 1898 which was quickly put down and the country remained under direct rule for a generation until the call for independence was once again heard in the middle of the last century.2 Like most European powers, Britain eventually ceded control of the colony's government to the majority of its people but continued to hold many economic strings with the help of American economic and military might.

The British have often claimed, in regards to their Empire building days, that if they did nothing else in their former colonies they produced institutions which allowed the people to govern themselves but the current horrors in Sierra Leone actively contest this thesis. Having created the Creole population, the British did nothing to ensure that their political voice would be counted thus creating a perfect scapegoat for future race-baiters. During the early years of independence the country seemed to be on the right track with the help of newly discovered mineral wealth, especially diamonds. When smuggling began to cause these resources to disappear and the economy stagnated the military took over and the short-lived experiment in democracy came to an end.

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