Waterloo, Sierra Leone: History
Waterloo was founded in 1819 as a settlement for liberated Africans. Incorporated into the parish system under the tutelage of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Waterloo was settled by soldiers from the second and fourth West India Regiment from Jamaica and Barbados. The town was named after the Anglo-Allied army victory over Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo in present-day Belgium.
The ex-military men settled in "Soja Town" bordering King Street, an artery leading to King Yard which housed the police station, courthouse, and jailhouse. The settlers were later joined by several groups of Recaptives, whose integration into the village community was facilitated by Governor MacCarthy's insistence on education and religion via schools, personages and churches. Several Christian denominations, primarily of Anglican, Countess of Huntingdon, and Wesleyan persuasions established churches and schools throughout the fast-growing populace.
Following the establishment of the Mixed Commissions in Freetown in 1819 (primarily to set recaptured slaves free), the number of Recaptives in Freetown grew. This growth resulted in a corresponding increase in the Recaptives population in Waterloo. Unlike the original settlers from Jamaica and Barbados, the Recaptives had made minimal sustained contact with Western languages and cultures. In efforts to restore some lifestyle stability in their new environment, the Recaptives settled along ethnic or tribal lines. Thus, the Yoruba settled in Aku Town, the Igbo in Ibo Town, the ex-military Recaptives in Soja Town, etc.
The community which emerged established social welfare institutions and secret societies such as Osusu, Ojeh, Hunting, Geledeh, and Akanja as measures to perpetuate their culture, provide a framework for social stability, and increase their independence. With the inculcation of Christian values and Western education, and under the supervision of the village headman (who enforced the rule of law), Waterloo evolved as a stable economic, cultural, and socio-political centre.
In less than half a century since its inception, Waterloo emerged as an important economic hub buffering Sierra Leone's provincial capitals and the nation's capital. Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, the city continued to serve as a gateway to and from the hinterland and blossomed as a trading centre into which goods and services from Freetown and the Sierra Leone peninsula converged. Its economic prosperity coupled with its proximity to the city brought together diverse people from different parts of the nation.