The Banana Islands are a group of islands that lie off the coast of Yawri Bay, south west of the Freetown Peninsula in the Western Area of Sierra Leone.
Sherbro Island is in the Atlantic Ocean, and is included within Bonthe District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. The island is separated from the African mainland by the Sherbro River in the north and Sherbro Strait in the east. It is 32 miles (51 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) wide, covering an area of approximately 230 square miles (600 km2). The western extremity is Cape St. Ann. Bonthe, on the eastern end, is the chief port and commercial centre.
The Western Area or Freetown Peninsula is one of five principal divisions of Sierra Leone. It comprises the oldest city and national capital Freetown and its surrounding towns and countryside. It covers an area of 557 km2 and has a population of 1,447,271. The Western Area is located mostly around the peninsula and is divided into two districts: the Western Area Rural and the Western Area Urban.
Bonthe District is a district that comprises several islands and mainland of the Atlantic Ocean in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Bonthe is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Its capital is the town of Bonthe Island and its largest city is Bonthe, on Sherbro Island. As of the 2015 census, the district had a population of 200,730. Bonthe District is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Bonthe District is subdivided into eleven chiefdoms.
Bonthe is a coastal town located on Sherbro Island in Bonthe District in the southern Province of Sierra Leone. The town lies on the eastern shore of Sherbro Island, on the Sherbro River estuary. Bonthe is about 60 miles south-west of Bo and 187 miles south-east of Freetown.
The Sherbro people are a native people of Sierra Leone, who speak the Sherbro language; they make up 1.9% of Sierra Leone's population or 134,606. The Sherbro are found primarily in their homeland in Bonthe District, where they make up 40% of the population, in coastal areas of Moyamba District, and in the Western Area of Sierra Leone, particularly in Freetown. During pre-colonial days, the Sherbro were one of the most dominant ethnic group in Sierra Leone, but in the early 21st century, the Sherbro comprise a small minority in the nation. The Sherbro speak their own language, called Sherbro language.
The Western Area Rural District is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. It is located mostly around the peninsula in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. The Western Area Rural District has a 2015 census population of 442,951. The district capital and largest city is Waterloo. Other major towns in the district include Newton, Benguema, Leicester, Tombo and Regent. Most of the towns and villages in the Western area rural District are close to the capital Freetown; and are part of the Freetown Metropolitan Area.
Gbap is a small rural fishing town in Nongoba Bullom Chiefdom, Bonthe District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. The town is mainly inhabited by the Sherbro people. Gbap is the traditional home of the Sherbro Tuckers Family, descendants of an English slave trader and a Sherbro princess. It is also the birthplace of Patricia Kabbah, former First Lady of Sierra Leone and wife of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leone's 3rd President.
John Kizell was an American immigrant who became a leader in Sierra Leone as it was being developed as a new British colony in the early nineteenth century. Believed born on Sherbro Island, he was kidnapped and enslaved as a child and shipped to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was sold again. Years later, after the American Revolutionary War, during which he gained freedom with the British and was evacuated to Nova Scotia, he eventually returned to West Africa. In 1792, he was among 50 native-born Africans among the 1200 predominantly African-American Black Loyalists resettled in Freetown.
Shenge is a coastal fishing town along the Atlantic Ocean in Moyamba District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. Shenge is the seat of the Kagboro Chiefdom, part of the third level of administration. The dense coastal jungle has prevented development of a good road network, and the Shenge is still most easily reached by boat. The local small fishing and passenger boats that travel among the coastal towns are known as pampas in Sierra Leone.
Tombo is a coastal fishing town located on the southern coast of the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The town is approximately 30 miles (49 km) east of Freetown. The major industry in Tombo is fishing. Other industries in the town include coal mining and farming. Tombo is a major trade and transport hub for fishing boat
Sussex is a coastal fishing village, near the town of York, around the peninsular, in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The major industry in Sussex is fishing, alongside coal and stone mining. The village lies about twenty five miles outside Freetown.
York Island is an island in Sierra Leone. It is a small island located 2 km (1.2 mi) to the east of Bonthe, Sherbro Island. It is part of the Bonthe Island Municipality.
Stephen Caulker was a king of the Banana Islands off the coast of present-day Sierra Leone. He had some distant Anglo-Irish ancestry and was mostly Sherbro in ancestry. Caulker was part of a hereditary dynasty that ruled as chiefs of the states of Bumpe and Shenge (Kagboro) in Sierra Leone from 1820 into the late 20th century.
Baw Baw is a fishing village around the peninsular in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. The major industry in the village is fishing; and most of its residents are fishermen. The village lies close to the sea and the peninsular beach. Baw Baw village lies about ten miles west of Freetown.
Dublin is a large coastal fishing village on the Banana Islands in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Dublin is one of three islands that make up the Banana Islands; the others are Ricketts and Mes-Meheux.
Kent is a coastal fishing village around the peninsular in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Kent lies approximately thirty miles east of Freetown. Kent is known for its large beaches and its strong fishing community.
Tokeh Also known as Tokeh Town is a coastal resort town along the peninsula in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Tokeh lies approximately twenty miles east of Freetown and near the neighborhood town of York. The major economic activity in Tokeh is fishing and tourism.
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 Turtle Islands are in the Atlantic Ocean, located west of Sherbro Island in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Of the eight islands, seven are inhabited. Sherbro is the predominant ethnic group. This eight-island archipelagos expands in a zone of 8 miles (13 km) over shallow waters and white sand banks. Yele, Bakie, Bumpetuk, Chepo, Hoong, Mut, Nyangei and Sei are the names of the islands.
Sierra Leone