Torrential rains in Sierra Leone’s capital have felled the centuries-old Cotton Tree, a national treasure whose loss has left “a gap” in people’s hearts, President Julius Maada Bio says.
“There is no stronger symbol of our national story than the Cotton Tree, a physical embodiment of where we come from as a country,” Bio told reporters.
“Nothing in nature lasts forever, so our challenge is to rekindle, nurture and develop that powerful African spirit it for so long represented.”
The roughly 400-year-old tree, which had stood 70 metres (230 feet) tall and 15 metres (50 feet) wide, has been Sierra Leone’s national symbol for decades.
The Cotton Tree was a significant landmark in the nation of West Africa, which was established by former slaves who emigrated from the United States. According to locals, the returnees congregated under this tree to pray when they first landed by boat in their new home, which they dubbed Freetown, in the late 1700s.
The tree later made an appearance on the nation’s currency and was honored in children’s nursery songs. In 1961, to commemorate Sierra Leone’s independence from British colonial authority, Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit there as well.
“It was regarded as a symbol of liberty and freedom by early settlers,” the president wrote on Twitter.
“We have to see what we are going to do to make sure that we keep the history of this tree here,” Bio told newsmen. “I want to have a piece of this history wherever I find myself – at the state house, the museum or city hall.”
The tree had endured damage over the years, including a lightning strike that charred it, but the storm on Wednesday reduced the tree to little more than a stump.
One of the nations most affected by climate change is Sierra Leone. In 2017, a landslide caused by a lot of rain killed over a thousand people.