Old photographs, stamps and film · 1562–1786
Many were made by colonial officials, missionaries and foreign visitors. Titles and descriptions come from the collections that hold them and can carry the attitudes and language of their time. We show them as historical records, not as endorsements. Dates, eras and categories were assigned automatically from those records and some will be wrong. If you or your family appear in a picture, you hold rights to one, a detail is wrong, or you think a picture should not be here, press “Report this picture” under it: your note reaches our editors with the picture attached, and they can take it down straight away. You can also write to hello@dt-ets.com.
Stone tools from rock shelters, nomoli figures turned up in farms, iron smelters, and the ivory carvings Sapi artists made for Portuguese traders in the 1400s and 1500s.
'Three Kroomen of Sierra Leone' (Bray album) RMG PT2038 probably February 1775
Gabriel Bray · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The slave trade on this coast and the people who came out of it: the captives of Bunce Island and the Amistad, the Black Poor, Nova Scotian and Maroon settlers, and the Liberated Africans freed from slave ships.
View of Bunce Island and its fort. After Smith 1746
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Where people lived: streets, markets, houses, churches and mosques, and the villages upcountry.
View of a mountain range and houses in Sierra Leone circa 1750
Jakob van der Schley / Pieter de Hondt · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bay of Sierra Leone. View of the entrance to the bay 1730
Guillaume d'Heulland · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
View of the mountains called Sierra Leone; houses of Sierra Leone 1747
Jacob van der Schley · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Rice farms, palm oil and kernels, fishing nets and traps, cooking, shops, mines and markets: the work that fed the country and paid its way.
European settlements on the coasts of Africa from Cap Blanc to the Cape of Good Hope 18th century
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The Guinea coast continued, from Cape Tagrin to Cape Lopez Gonsalvo, coloured by the possessions of the different powers 1778 - 1790s
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Fishes of Sierra Leone 1781
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What hands made: country cloth spun and woven on the narrow loom, gara dyeing, baskets, pots, carving and smithing.
Map of the mouth of the Sierra Leone River, also called the Mitomba or Tagrin 1700–99
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The Sande (Bondo) and Poro societies and their masquerades, nomoli and minsereh figures, and the churches and mosques. Pictures of society matters stay behind a notice, out of respect.
Governor John Thomas's house in Sierra Leone, mid-17th century, artist's recreation 1853
Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Male figure, Undetermined peoples, used by Kissi peoples, Guinea, Possibly 16th to 17th century, Stone, pigment (2922769899)
Cliff from I now live in Arlington, VA (Outside Washington DC), USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The coast and the country as mapmakers drew them, from the Portuguese pilots to the surveyors of the colony.
Western Africa, from Senegal to Benin (Stefano Bonsignori) 1580
Stefano Bonsignori 1589 – cartographer (Italian) Born in Firenze. Died in Firenze. Details on Google Art Project · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The river and mountains of Sierra Leone / Villault de Bellefonds 17th century
Villault, Nicolas. Cartographe · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The coast of Sierra Leone, Johannes Blaeu, 1662 1662
Johannes Blaeu Original uploader was Jan Arkesteijn at nl.wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The kingdoms of Guinea, the Jolof and Sierra Leone. R 2= 22. Piece 15 1664
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The kingdoms of Guinea, the Jolof and Sierra Leone 1686–1719
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Bay of Sierra Leone; view of the entrance to the bay / engraved by Dheulland 1700–99
Dheulland, Guillaume (17..?-177.). Graveur · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Map of the coast and neighbouring lands of the Sierra Leone and Sherbro rivers / [Bellin] 1700–99
Bellin, Jacques-Nicolas (1703-1772). Cartographe · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Map of the mouths of the Sherbro (or Cerbera) River on the Guinea coast, at 6 degrees 40 minutes north 1700–99
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Bunce Island map circa 1727
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bunce Island north-west circa 1727
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Map of part of the west coast of Africa, with an inset showing the coast of Sierra Leone 1732
Awnsham Churchill / John Churchill / Jan Kip · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Sierra Leone Johannes 1732 1732
Jan Kip · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture