St George's Cathedral today

The people and their religion

The Christian religion was bought to Sierra Leone by colonists from America and the West Indies at the end of the eighteenth century.

St George's Cathedral in Freetown was built in the early nineteenth century, followed by the Fourth Bay College used to train Christian missionaries. In 1964 Adjai Crowther became the first African Bishop.

There are over 70 churches in Freetown - and 15 different religious faiths practiced in the capital - but the majority are either Anglicans or Catholics.

Islamic faith

Almost half the population is Islamic which was established long before Christianity by the Fulahs and Mandikas from the Muslim countries to the north. Muslim festivals are timed according to local sighings of phases of the moon.

Islam predominates in the interior of Sierra Leone.

Some Animism and ancestor worship still survives in forest villages in the north and east of the country.