Discover the History of Bunce Island, Sierra Leone, on Google Arts & Culture

Located just a few miles off the coast of Freetown, Sierra Leone, the fort on Bunce Island played a major role in the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved Africans. Today, the American descendants of the tens of thousands of Africans who passed through Bunce Island have preserved the cultural legacy of their forebears; as such, the surviving fort is both a monument to a deeply traumatic past and a powerful testament to enduring links between Africa and its diaspora in the American South.

Learn about the history of Bunce Island’s connection to the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved Africans and how the site was rediscovered by Sierra Leonean archaeologists in the twentieth century.

See how the language and traditions of the Gullah/Geechee community in the southern United States have preserved traces of their West African ancestors.

These exhibits are part of a larger collection devoted to Black heritage sites entitled The Black Atlantic.

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