The Sierra Leone Creole people (or Krio people) is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone. The Creole people are descendants of freed African American, West Indian and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown.[1] Today, the Creoles comprise about 5% of the population of Sierra Leone.[2] [3]

Like their Americo-Liberian neighbors in Liberia, Creoles have varying degrees of European ancestry because some of the settlers were descended from European Americans and other Europeans. Though the Jamaican Maroons, some Creoles probably also have indigenous Jamaican Amerindian Taíno ancestry.[4] Alongside the Americo-Liberians, the Creoles are the only recognised ethnic group of African-American, Liberated African, and West Indian descent in West Africa. As with their Americo-Liberian neighbors, Creole culture is primarily westernized. The Creoles developed close relationships with the British colonial power; they became educated in British institutions and held prominent leadership positions in Sierra Leone under British colonialism.

The vast majority of Creoles reside in Freetown and its surrounding Western Area region of Sierra Leone.[5] The only Sierra Leonean ethnic group whose culture is similar (in terms of its integration of Western culture) are the Sherbro. From their mix of peoples, the Creoles developed what is now the native Krio language (a mixture of English, indigenous West African languages, and other European languages). It has been widely used for trade and communication among ethnic groups and is the most widely spoken language in Sierra Leone.[6]

The Creoles are primarily Christian, at 90 percent and are the descendants of freed African American and West Indian slaves who were virtually all Christians. However, some scholars such as consider the Oku people as Creoles