1,200 Black Loyalists Sail from Nova Scotia to Found Freetown, Sierra Leone

After years of broken British promises, land shortages, and racial violence in Nova Scotia, approximately 1,196 Black Loyalists sailed to Sierra Leone in January 1792 under the auspices of the Sierra Leone Company. Led in part by Boston King and David George (Baptist preacher), they founded Freetown. The community had been organized partly by British abolitionist Granville Sharp. The settlers named their streets after British abolitionists. Their departure effectively ended the Birchtown communi