Like their Americo-Liberian neighbors in Liberia, Krio have varying degrees of Europeanancestry because some of the settlers were descended from European Americans and other Europeans. Through the Jamaican Maroons some Krio probably also have indigenous Jamaican ancestry. 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 Krios 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.