Research Paper on:
Nationalism and Decolonization in Sierra Leone

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
path of decolonization in Sierra Leone followed a pattern common in other colonies gaining their independence from a foreign power. Those in leadership positions initially looked to the occupying  power for assistance, then for freedom and self-determination. Such was the case in Sierra Leone, which led Africa in various freedom movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Sierra Leones  History As is the case with so much of Africa, little is known about the area that is now Sierra Leone prior to  the 1490s. European trading ships began stopping there in the 1500s, however, followed soon after by the slave traders. Islam pushed westward  throughout much of the medieval period and into the Renaissance. It was in the early 18th century that the Fulani people east of present-day Sierra Leone invaded to convert  the people of present-day Sierra Leone to Islam. The Fulani continued their holy war to convert the infidels; many migrated toward the east coast of Africa in advance of  invasion. It was in the late 18th century, 1787, that English abolitionist Granville Sharp gathered 400 freed former slaves to repatriate the present-day  Sierra Leone, at the current site of the city of Freetown. The newly-freed slaves did not fare well in Freetown; they suffered from hunger, disease and invasion, and the  settlement was nearly lost. In 1807, however, England outlawed slavery and provided many more immigrants to Freetown. It claimed Sierra Leone as a colony in 1808.  Having abolished slavery in England, the British then set about freeing slaves claimed by any other nation as well. Slave trading continued, of course,