*On this date, in 1792, Freetown, Sierra Leone, was founded. Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone.
Freetown was founded by abolitionist John Clarkson as a settlement for freed Afro Caribbean and enslaved Africans in America. Like many African countries, they fell into colonization by Europe because of the Berlin Conference of 1884.
It is a major port city of the African country on the Atlantic Ocean. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational, and political center. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census. The city's economy revolves primarily around its harbor, which occupies a part of the estuary of the Sierra Leone River in one of the world's largest natural deep-water harbors.
Although the city has traditionally been the homeland of the Krio people, the population of Freetown is ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. Sierra Leone's ethnic groups are many, with no single ethnic group forming more than 27% of its population. As in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone, the Krio language of the Sierra Leone Creole people is Freetown's primary language of communication and is by far the most widely spoken language in the city. Sierra Leone remained a colony of the U.K. until 1961.
Freetown is locally governed by a directly elected Freetown City Council, headed by a mayor, who also is directly elected. The mayor and members of the Freetown City Council are directly elected by the residents of Freetown in an election held every four years. The mayor of Freetown is Yvonne Aki Sawyerr, sworn in on May 11, 2018, after her victory in the 2018 Freetown Mayoral election.
The Freetown city council has its municipal police force.
