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Kongba District is one of five second-level administrative divisions located in Gbarpolu County, Liberia.
All towns and villages are involved in mining activities and have large expatriate populations from countries such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Whenever there is a new discovery of diamonds or gold in a village there is a large migration of both miners and business people to that particular center for the time the minerals are being mined. Livelihood activities include farming (slash-and-burn), alluvial mining of diamonds and gold and hunting of bush meat. Over 50% of the villages have fewer than 100 inhabitants. Kungbor has the largest population, followed by Zuie and Nomo. Butter Hill, Nomo, Fula Camp, Camp Israel, Fornor, Kawelahun and Kungbor are of medium size. There are two types of communities: the more permanent and stable communities - which have developed retail services, palm oil production, cocoa and coffee cultivations and more established houses (with zinc roofs), and the unstable transient towns or camps which are newly established or only inhabited in the dry season when mining activities take place. On this basis, six forest edge villages in Grand Camp area and eleven in Zui clan are classed as permanent settlements. Five communities in Gbarpolu County are classed as not stable.
Both Mende and Gola are spoken in Kongba district. Mende is preferred for general usage as it is largely understood both by the indigenous population as well as the expatriate worker community, but for issues regarding land ownership disputes, Gola is preferred as it is generally only understood by the indigenous population and excludes the expatriate community from such discussions.
The ratio of men to women throughout the district skews higher than average, due to the overwhelming reliance on mining as an economic activity. District-wide, the ratio of men to women is 3:1, with 70% of the villages having more men than women. In one village, Sonah Creek, the population consisted solely of men. Similarly, gender ratios in Soso camp (17 times more males) and ULC (9 times more males) are highly skewed towards males.
Diamond and gold have been the two major mineral resources of the Kongba community since before the founding of the Republic of Liberia. They have continued to serve the people of the community and others from far and near. As early as the 1900s the people of the community could not pay taxes to government in cash but in goods of diamond and gold. This practice continued until the late 1960s.
During inter-ethnic wars, the Gola people were overpowered because of the British influence in neighboring Sierra Leone and many of the Gola people were absorbed into the Mende-speaking community.
Coordinates: 7°47′20″N10°29′06″W / 7.789°N 10.485°W
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This article is about the demographic features of the population of Liberia, including population density, ethnic groups, education level, population health, economic status, religious affiliations and other demographic information.
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Grand Cape Mount is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has five districts. Robertsport serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring 5,162 square kilometres (1,993 sq mi). As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 129,817, making it the eighth most populous county in Liberia. The county is bordered by Gbarpolu County to the northeast and Bomi County to the southeast. The northern part of Grand Cape Mount borders the nation of Sierra Leone, while to the west lies the Atlantic Ocean.
Gbarpolu is a county in the northern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Bopulu serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring 9,689 square kilometres (3,741 sq mi). As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 83,758, making it the eleventh-most populous county in Liberia.
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The Gola or Gula or Koya are a tribal people living in western/northwestern Liberia and Eastern Sierra Leone. The Gola language is an isolate within the Niger–Congo language family; in 1991 it was spoken by 200,000 people. As of 2015, it is spoken by about 278,000 people.
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The Loko are one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. Landogo is used as an endonym for the people and language, but other groups refer to them as Loko. They speak a Southwestern Mande language that is also called Loko. The majority of the Loko people live in the Northern Province of the country, particularly in Bombali and Port Loko District, and around the capital city of Freetown in communities such as Regent. Important regional towns include Tambiama, Kalangba, and Gbendembu, though other groups such as the Mandingo, Fula and Temne peoples live there too.
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Guinea is approximately 85 percent Muslim, 8 percent Christian, with 7 percent adhering to indigenous religious beliefs. Much of the population, both Muslim and Christian, also incorporate indigenous African beliefs into their outlook.
Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.
The mining industry of Liberia has witnessed a revival after the civil war which ended in 2003. Gold, diamonds, and iron ore form the core minerals of the mining sector with a new Mineral Development Policy and Mining Code being put in place to attract foreign investments. In 2013, the mineral sector accounted for 11% of GDP in the country and the World Bank has projected a further increase in the sector by 2017.