The history of Sierra Leone began when the land became inhabited by indigenous African peoples at least 2,500 years ago. The dense tropical rainforest partially isolated the region from other West African cultures, and it became a refuge for peoples escaping violence and jihads. Sierra Leone was named by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra, who mapped the region in 1462. The Freetown estuary provided a good natural harbour for ships to shelter and replenish drinking water, and gained more international attention as coastal and trans-Atlantic trade supplanted trans-Saharan trade.
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.
The Mende people are one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone; their neighbours, the Temne people, have roughly the same population. The Mende and Temne each account for slightly more than 30% of the total population. The Mende are predominantly found in the Southern Province and the Eastern Province, while the Temne are found primarily in the Northern Province and the Western Area, including the capital city of Freetown. Some of the major cities with significant Mende populations include Bo, Kenema, Kailahun, and Moyamba.
Bombali District is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Makeni, which is also the largest city in the north. Bombali District is one of the fourteen districts of Sierra Leone. Bombali is the second largest district in Sierra Leone by geographical area, after Koinadugu District, and is the second most populous district in the North, after Port Loko District. In the 2015 Sierra Leone national census, the population of Bombali district was 606,183. Other major towns in Bombali District include Kamabai, Karina and Binkolo.
Titanium Resources Group Ltd. is a holding company that wholly owns a number of mining, exploration and marketing companies with large holdings in Sierra Leone.
Sir Maurice Henry Dorman was the representative of the British Monarchy in Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Sierra Leone, and Malta. He studied at Cambridge University. He served in Sierra Leone from 1956 until 1962, for which he was knighted in 1957. From 27 April 1961 to 27 April 1962, Dorman was the Governor-General of Sierra Leone. From 1962 until 1964, he was the Colonial Governor of Malta and then became Governor-General of Malta from September 1964 until July 1971, when he was replaced by Sir Anthony Mamo.
Articles related to Sierra Leone include:
John Keister is a former footballer and coach who currently manages the Sierra Leone national team. Although born in England he has gained international caps for Sierra Leone.
Kadi Sesay is a Sierra Leonean politician, feminist, pro-democracy advocate and the Vice Presidential Candididate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). She served as Sierra Leone Minister of Trade and Industry from 2002 to 2007. She is the founder and Managing Director of Leone Consulting & Advisory Services – for Trade, Investment and Development. She is the mother of CNN International news anchor Isha Sesay.
Julius Momoh Gulama was a Sierra Leonean paramount chief, statesman and educator in the preindependence era. As paramount chief of Kaiyamba Chiefdom, he ruled the largest and most powerful Mende chiefdom in the Sierra Leone.
The Nova Scotian Settlers or Sierra Leone Settlers were African Americans who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone on March 11, 1792. The majority of these black immigrants were among 3000 former slaves and free African Americans who sought refuge with the British during the American Revolutionary War, known as the Black Loyalists. The Nova Scotian settlers were jointly led by former soldier Thomas Peters and English abolitionist John Clarkson. For most of the 19th century the Settlers resided in Settler Town and remained a distinct ethnic group within the country.
Railway stations in Sierra Leone include:
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Healthcare in Sierra is generally charged for. and is provided by a mixture of government, private and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). There are over 100 NGOs operating in the health care sector in Sierra Leone. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation is responsible for organizing health care and after the end of the civil war the ministry changed to a decentralized structure of health provision to try to increase its coverage.
The Sierra Leone Creole people is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone. The Creole people are descendants of freed African American, West Indian and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Creoles comprise about 2% of the population of Sierra Leone.
The Bumpe Chiefdom is a Chiefdom of Sierra Leone located in Moyamba District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. It is centred on Rotifunk. It comprises 208 villages.
The Hatfield Archer Memorial Hospital is dedicated to the memory of Marietta Hatfield and Mary Archer, who started the construction in 1891. It is located in the town Rotifunk, Sierra Leone.
