JSLS October 2017- Final Copy

In the nineteenth century, Freetown, the principal city of the Colony of Sierra Leone, was a cosmopolitan centre which attracted African, European, and American merchants who sought to trade in the vast territories adjacent to the Colony. [...] Spector was also perhaps the first to highlight the legacy of John Myer Harris in modern-day Sierra Leone and to emphasise the connection between the British and Sierra Leonean descendants of Harris. [...] Furthermore, the unique trading pattern that had existed for centuries in the hinterland of Sierra Leone was not necessarily applicable in the context of the commercial environment or business relations in the Colony of Sierra Leone. [...] For example, William Nankin, possibly the mixed-race son of a European, married Yantickar, a possible daughter or granddaughter of Peter Tucker I, a son of John Tucker, the original Englishman in the employ of the Gambia Adventurers and later the Royal African Company. [...] Furthermore, the introduction of legitimate commerce had different consequences in the Rio Nunez and the Rio Pongas and the slave trade ended at different periods in these parts of the Northern Rivers.