Temne People - History

History

The history of the Temnes' migration toward present day Sierra Leone was dated as far back as the 11th and 12th centuries, mainly due to the fall of the Jalunkandu Empire in what latter become Fouta Jallon, in the High Lands of present day Republic of Guinea. In fact most Temnes up till now acknowledged their ancestral home to Fouta. Like other minorities ethnic groups in Fouta such as the Yalunka, the Susu, the Kurankohs, the Temnes started to migrated from the Fouta into what is now Sierra Leone to secure a settlement along the salt trade route from the coast to the north and north east. On their way downwards, the Temnes fought and forced the Limbas northeast and the Bulloms southwards to secure the new trade route from Bakeh towards the northern part of the Pamoronkoh River which is today known as the Rokel River. They followed the Rokel River from its upper reaches to the Sierra Leone River, the giant estuary of the Rokel River and Port Loko Creek which forms the largest natural harbor in the African continent. Historians believe the Temnes were involved in the long-distance kola nut trade during the period of the Mali and Songai Empires when West African trade was directed north across the Sahara Desert, and that they used their commercial expertise gained during that earlier period into the new coastal trade when the Europeans arrived

There were Temne speakers along the coast in what is now Sierra Leone when the first Portuguese ships arrived, in the 14th century. Temne were indicated on subsequent Portuguese maps, and references to them and brief vocabularies appear in the texts. Trade began, albeit on a small scale, in the fifteenth century with the Portuguese and expanded in the late sixteenth century with the arrival of British traders, and later traders of other nations. Slaves, gold, ivory and local foodstuffs were exchanged for European trade goods—mostly cloth, firearms, and hardware.

As Temne traders were in contact with the permanent European factories in the river mouths, so did they establish and maintain relations with the settlement at Freetown after its founding in the late eighteenth century. This settlement, inspired by philanthropic abolitionists, was regarded ambivalently by Temne traders, who had long been involved in the profitable export slave trade. In the nineteenth century, following abolition, Freetown became the primate trade entrepot, attracting trade caravans from Temne and beyond. Creoles from Freetown moved progressively up-county to trade in the second half of the nineteenth century, and relations with the Temne and other ethnic group in the country were not always amicable. The British colonial government at Freetown followed a policy of "stipendiary bribery" punctuated by threats to use armed force in an attempt to prevent Temne and other chiefs from hindering trade from and with areas farther inland. When diplomacy failed, British expeditions invaded the Temne area of Yoni in 1889 and then at Tambi in 1891.

The Protectorate of Sierra Leone was proclaimed in 1896, and, subsequently, a colonial overadministration was instituted. The traditional Temne chiefdoms became units of local government, and a hut tax was levied to support the colonial administration. Armed rebellion broke out in 1898, when a Temne chief, Bai Bureh, led a successful campaigns and became an instant hero.