Bunce Island is a tiny place with huge significance: It is where thousands of Africans became slaves.
From 1670 the island served as a pivotal outpost in the Atlantic slave trade. It lies, pebble-like, a few nautical miles up from Freetown, at the mouth of the Rockel river.
After being captured inland by African traders, men and women were brought to the small island fortress to be sold to white captains or agents of chartered companies. They were then warehoused in cramped quarters while awaiting the next ship’s departure for North America or the West Indies.
In 1808, when the British made it illegal to transport slaves on the high seas, they stationed their navy's African Squadron on Bunce Island so it could patrol the coast of Africa and intercept vessels with human cargo bound for European or American markets.
The castle, as the British called the stone, mortar, and slate compound, was attacked and destroyed repeatedly by Portuguese fleets, the French navy, and pirates. But it was rebuilt every time until it was officially abandoned in 1840.
In the region’s tropical climate, local people had perfected the delicate art of rice farming, which made them valuable assets for plantation owners on America’s east coast and in the West Indies. Shiploads of new slaves were destined for South Carolina and Georgia. It is believed by some that the iconic Uncle Ben of converted rice fame was modeled on an elderly African from SL.
Today, the Gullah people in those states can trace their ancestry to SL, and a number of families have organized pilgrimages to Bunce Island.
Unfortunately, when they get here, not much in the way of historical information awaits them. In fact, this rusted sign is the only interpretive panel on the entire island.
Our group was met by a dedicated guide from a village across the river. He is the keeper of the island’s visitors' log-book, and offered a detailed tour of the decaying facilities - in Krio, which a local member of our expedition patiently translated.
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Relics is supposed to pay him a modest salary and provide him with accommodation on the island, but that arrangement seems to have been forgotten, along with any past commitment to invest in the protection and promotion of the ruins, arguably the most significant component of SL’s cultural heritage.
In 1989, the U.S National Park Service launched a preservation program for Bunce Island, but the civil war soon thwarted those efforts. Since the end of the conflict, successive SL governments have not allocated any resources for the upkeep of the island.
Last year, coinciding with the bicentennial anniversary of the end of the slave trade, the World Monuments Fund, an international organization working for the preservation and rehabilitation of neglected historical sites, placed Bunce Island on its list of the 100 most endangered sites.
By contrast, the area up the road from where I live is called Wilberforce in honour of abolitionist William Wilberforce, the British MP who led the fight against the slave trade. In the town of Hull, Yorkshire, the house where he was born has been turned into Britain’s first museum devoted to the history of slavery.
Key dates in the incremental abolition of slavery:
1772: England declares slavery illegal on its territory
1787: Freetown is established by the British as a province for freed slaves
1793: Upper Canada passes the Act Against Slavery
1803: Lower Canada abolishes slavery
1807: Britain passes the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, making it illegal to transport slaves onboard British ships
1833: Britain passes the Abolition of Slavery Act, making it illegal to own slaves throughout the British Empire
1865: The U.S. abolishes slavery on its territory with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution
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