How many Black Loyalists, freedmen, and slaves came north to Canada during the American Revolution?

Discover Canada gives the Black Loyalist figure precisely. The guide records: About 3,000 black Loyalists, freedmen and slaves came north seeking a better life. In turn, in 1792, some black Nova Scotians, who were given poor land, moved on to establish Freetown, Sierra Leone (West Africa), a new British colony for freed slaves. So the answer the test wants is the only number the guide attaches to this group: about 3,000 — the answer choice closest to that figure.

The 3,000 figure sits inside the larger Loyalist movement Discover Canada describes. After the 13 colonies declared independence in 1776, "more than 40,000 people loyal to the Crown" fled north to Nova Scotia and Quebec. The Black Loyalists are part of that figure, and their listing is part of the guide's broader portrait of Loyalist diversity — "Dutch, German, British, Scandinavian, Aboriginal and other origins" and "Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Quaker and Catholic religious backgrounds."

The aftermath is also worth knowing. Many of the 3,000 Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia, but Discover Canada notes openly that they "were given poor land." Some responded by emigrating again. In 1792, the guide says, a group of these Black Nova Scotians left to help establish Freetown, Sierra Leone in West Africa, described as "a new British colony for freed slaves." The 3,000 figure therefore represents both a moment of refuge and the beginning of a still larger transatlantic story.

The question is a numeric memory check. Discover Canada attaches several specific figures to the post-Loyalist period — 40,000+ total Loyalists, 3,000 black Loyalists — and the test is checking whether new citizens have noticed and remembered the second of these.

The number also matters thematically. The 3,000 black Loyalists form part of the guide's recognition that Canada's Loyalist heritage is multi-ethnic and multi-religious, and that the country's connection with the broader Atlantic story of slavery and emancipation runs through events like the founding of Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1792.