Portal:Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Portal

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is 73,252 km² (28,283 sq mi). It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 8,460,512. Freetown is its capital and largest city.

Sierra Leone is a presidential republic, with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. It is a secular state. Its constitution provides for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience. Muslims constitute three-quarters of the population, and there is a significant Christian minority. Notably, religious tolerance is very high.

Sierra Leone's current territorial configuration was established in two phases: in 1808, the coastal Sierra Leone Colony was founded as a place to resettle returning Africans after the abolition of the slave trade; then in 1896, the inland Protectorate was created as a result of the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. This led to the formal recognition of the territory as the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate. Sierra Leone attained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961 under the leadership of Prime Minister Sir Milton Margai of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). In 1971, under Prime Minister Siaka Stevens of the All People's Congress (APC), the country adopted a new constitution, transforming Sierra Leone into a presidential republic, with Stevens as the inaugural president. In 1978, Stevens declared the APC to be the sole legally recognized party. In 1985, he was succeeded by Joseph Saidu Momoh. Momoh's enactment of a new constitution in 1991 reintroduced a multi-party system. That same year, a protracted civil war broke out between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group. The conflict, characterized by multiple coups d'état, persisted for 11 years. Intervention by ECOMOG forces and later by the United Kingdom resulted in the defeat of the RUF in 2002, ushering in a period of relative stability.

Sierra Leone is a culturally diverse country, home to approximately 18 ethnic groups, with the Temne and Mende peoples being predominant. The Creole people, descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean slaves and liberated Africans, constitute about 1.2% of the population. English is the official language, while Krio is the lingua franca, spoken by 97% of the population. The country is rich with natural resources, notably diamonds, gold, bauxite and aluminium. As of the most recent survey in 2019, 59.2% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty and an additional 21.3% vulnerable to it. Sierra Leone maintains membership in several international organisations, including the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Commonwealth of Nations, among others. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Main street in Koidu in the 1980s

Koidu Town (or Sefadu; officially known as Koidu City) is the capital and largest city of the Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its population is 128,030 based on the 2015 census. It is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population, after Freetown, Kenema, Bo and Makeni. It lies approximately 280 miles east of Freetown, and about 60 miles north of Kenema.

Koidu Town is a major urban, business, commercial and diamond trade center. Two of the world's ten largest and most famous rough diamonds were found in the Woyie River that flows through Koidu Town. (Full article...)

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General images -

The following are images from various Sierra Leone-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 2British West African Campaign troops in Freetown, 1914–1916. Published caption: "British expeditionary force preparing to embark at Freetown to attack the German Cameroons, the main object of the attack being the port of Duala. Auxiliary native troops were freely used in African warfare." (from Sierra Leone)
Image 3Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 4A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 5A farmer with his rice harvest in Sierra Leone. Two-thirds of Sierra Leone's population are directly involved in subsistence agriculture. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 6British West African Campaign troops in Freetown, 1914–1916. Published caption: "British expeditionary force preparing to embark at Freetown to attack the German Cameroons, the main object of the attack being the port of Duala. Auxiliary native troops were freely used in African warfare." (from Sierra Leone)
Image 7The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 8An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 9Temne leader Bai Bureh seen here in 1898 after his surrender, sitting relaxed in his traditional dress with a handkerchief in his hands, while a Sierra Leonean West African Frontier Force soldier stands guard next to him (from Sierra Leone)
Image 10Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 11Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, 1490-1510 ca (from Sierra Leone)
Image 12The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 13Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 14The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 15The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 16Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 17Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 18A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 19Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 20Isata Mahoi shown editing radio programmes in Talking Drum studio Freetown; she is also an actress in the Sierra Leone radio soap opera Atunda Ayenda (from Sierra Leone)
Image 21The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 22National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 23A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 24A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 25Temne leader Bai Bureh seen here in 1898 after his surrender, sitting relaxed in his traditional dress with a handkerchief in his hands, while a Sierra Leonean West African Frontier Force soldier stands guard next to him (from Sierra Leone)
Image 26Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 27African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 28A farmer with his rice harvest in Sierra Leone. Two-thirds of Sierra Leone's population are directly involved in subsistence agriculture. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 29A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 30A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 31Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 32The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 33An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 34Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 35National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 36The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 37African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 38A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 39Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 40Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 41Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 42Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 43A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 44A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 45Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 46Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 47Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 48Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 49A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 50The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 51A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 52An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 53Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 54The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 55An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 56A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 57Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 58Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 59Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, 1490-1510 ca (from Sierra Leone)
Image 60Isata Mahoi shown editing radio programmes in Talking Drum studio Freetown; she is also an actress in the Sierra Leone radio soap opera Atunda Ayenda (from Sierra Leone)

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Sierra Leone sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the nation's third time competing at the Summer Paralympic Games after it made its debut twenty years prior at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The delegation consisted of a single athlete, table tennis player George Wyndham, who lost both of his preliminary round matches to Zhang Yan of China and Thailand's Wanchai Chaiwut in the men's singles class 4 tournament and advanced no further in the competition. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles
Aniru Conteh British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War Sierra Leone women's national football team 2017 Sierra Leone mudslides Sierra Leone at the 2012 Summer Olympics Western African Ebola virus epidemic Pygmy hippopotamus Operation Barras