Falaba
Falaba | |
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Falaba is a rural town in Solima chiefdom,
History
As the capital of Solimana, Falaba was a fortress town on the rich trading routes to the western coast of Africa. It was visited in 1822 by Alexander Gordon Laing, and in 1869 by William Winwood Reade; and was thus deemed nominally British.
In 1884,
The Anglo-French treaty of 1895 left the town without an affluent hinterland, and the colonial administrative post was moved from Falaba to Kabala. As a result, Falaba declined after 1895. Falaba was situated approximately thirty miles north-east of Kabala.
Destruction
Reports indicate that fighting in Falaba during the Sierra Leone Civil War of the 1990s caused most people to flee the town. In a press report of May 27, 1998, one witness said "the towns of Falaba, Sinkunia, Musaia-Mongo Bendugu, Krubonia, Bafodia and Yiffin had all been partly or totally destroyed" 1. The roads and bridges into Fabala were also almost totally destroyed, and the town very severely damaged, according to a post-war damage survey. An air survey in 2001 reported Falaba as a "village" 2.
R.M.S. Falaba
The British R.M.S. Falaba, a West African steamship, was hit and sunk by a U-boat torpedo in 1915. It was the first passenger ship sunk during World War I. Leon Thrasher, an American citizen, died on the Falaba, and his body was found after the Lusitania sank (Thrasher incident).
References