The Kossoh War, 1838-1841: Temne/Colony Reactions in Nineteenth Century Sierra Leone

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Periodical article

Title:	The Kossoh War, 1838-1841: Temne/Colony Reactions in Nineteenth Century Sierra Leone
Author:	Ijagbemi, E. Adeleye
Year:	1971
Periodical:	Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
Volume:	5
Issue:	4
Period:	June
Pages:	549-564
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sierra Leone
Subjects:	history colonists freedmen colonialism History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:	The establishment, in 1737, of the Freetown Colony - intended as a base for spreading what its promoters called the blessing of industry and civilization to other parts of West Africa - revolutionized the lives of the peoples in its neighbourhood. Most intimately affected were the Koya Temne who granted the colonists the right to occupy the land. The death of the Koya chief Bai Bure in 1838 brought an interregnum of 21 years in Koya country. In this period trouble started between the Koya and a group of Liberated Africans of Mende origin (the Kossohs), whom the Koya people had allowed to settle in their country. The Kossoh lived as British subjects, governed under British law, and subjected to British justice and protection. Their villages became refuges for runaway slaves from the interior. The issue of runaway slaves more and more worsened the relations between Koya and Kossoh. Hostilities from the side of enemies of the Koya, e.g. the Yoni, involved as well the Kossoh as the Colony. This led to a complicated war which ended in 1841. Notes, map.