Sherbro (Bullom)
The coastal people of Sierra Leone's islands and estuaries — carvers of the ivory saltcellars that European nobles collected in the 1500s, hosts of the first Portuguese traders, and inhabitants of a shoreline now being taken by the sea.
Sherbro (Bullom) people
Sierra leone, mende o sherbro, maschera-elmo, xix-xx sec, da distretto di moyamba.JPG · Wikimedia Commons
Identity
Population: Around 200,000, with the language endangered
Location: Sherbro Island, Bonthe, the Turner's Peninsula and the estuaries of southern Sierra Leone
Language: Sherbro (Bullom So), endangered with most speakers shifting to Mende or Krio
Language family: Niger-Congo → Mel
Traditional governance: Chiefdoms with paramount chiefs, historically including several ruled by women; the Poro and Bondo societies; Sierra Leonean chieftaincy administration today.
Clans, Sections & Sub-groups (3)
Most African peoples are federations of named sub-groups — clans, sections, chiefdoms or sub-tribes — each with its own dialect, territory and traditions.
Sherbro Island and Bonthe
The island communities and the colonial-era port town.
Mainland Sherbro
Estuary and peninsula communities, many now Mende-speaking.
Krim and Bom
Closely related and even more endangered neighbouring groups.
Gallery
1 images
Culture
Clothing: Country cloth and imported fabric; society regalia; the region's long trading contact brought European cloth early.
Food: Rice, fish and oysters from the estuaries, palm oil, cassava; the mangrove fishery is central.
Ceremonies: Poro and Bondo initiations; masked appearances including the Sowei helmet mask; funerals; the sacred societies' control of the fishing and farming calendar.
Marriage customs: Bridewealth negotiated between lineages; Sherbro chiefdoms have a long record of women holding paramountcy, which shapes marriage and property expectations.
Initiation rites: Poro and Bondo bush schools with seclusion and instruction; Bondo completion has historically been near-universal for women in the region.
Stories & Oral Literature
The Ivory SaltcellarsArt history
In the early 1500s Sherbro carvers produced elaborate ivory saltcellars, spoons and hunting horns to Portuguese order, combining local motifs with European heraldry and figures. They are among the earliest documented works of African art made for export, they sit in the great European collections, and they were carved on this coast by people whose language is now endangered.
The Island Is GoingContemporary account
Sherbro Island's coastline is eroding fast, with villages including Nyangai losing most of their land within a decade and residents relocating. Sea-level rise, sand mining and mangrove clearance all contribute. The community that met the first European ships on this coast is now among the first in West Africa to be displaced by the sea.
Proverbs
“The tide takes what the mangrove does not hold.”
Now painfully literal.
“A woman chief judges standing up.”
Said of the region's female paramountcies.
“Salt is the first trade and the last.”
The estuary economy's foundation.
Mythology & Spiritual Beliefs
Creation: A high creator with water and land powers beneath; the estuary and its islands have their own spirit geography.
Beliefs: Poro and Bondo societies; water spirits of the estuaries; ancestor veneration; Islam and Christianity both established, held alongside society membership.
Ancestors: Ancestors consulted through elders; the graves of chiefly lineages anchor claims that erosion is now literally washing away.
Gods, Goddesses & Spirits
The creator
Distant high god
Water spirits
Powers of estuary, island and sea
Sowei
Spirit of the women's society, embodied in the helmet mask
Architecture
Traditional settlements: Villages on sand spits and island shores; Bonthe's nineteenth-century colonial buildings; fishing camps in the mangroves.
Building techniques: Wattle and daub with thatch; timber and iron in the colonial port; boat building for the estuary fishery.
Village layout: Village facing the water with boats drawn up, drying racks, farms and palms behind.
Artifacts
Afro-Portuguese ivories
Art
Sixteenth-century carved saltcellars and horns made for European patrons.
Sowei helmet mask
Performance
Mask of the women's society, danced by women.
Nomoli stone figures
Art
Carved soapstone figures found in the region, of contested date and origin.
Bonthe's colonial port buildings
Heritage site
Remains of the nineteenth-century trading town.
Historical Timeline
1460s
Portuguese ships reach the coast; trade with Sherbro communities begins.
1500s
Afro-Portuguese ivory carving flourishes for European patrons.
1800s
Bonthe develops as a colonial trading port; British protectorate extends over the region.
1991–2002
Civil war; the region's economy collapses.
2010s–present
Severe coastal erosion displaces island villages; the Sherbro language becomes endangered.
Sources & Further Reading
Open sources
- British Museum: Afro-Portuguese ivoriesThe British Museum
- Ethnologue: SherbroSIL International
- Coastal erosion in Sierra Leone — reporting and researchUNEP
Premium & scholarly sources