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The Sierra Leone Portal

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia and is bordered by Guinea to the north. With a land area of 71,740 km² (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate and with a variety of environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. According to the 2015 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 7,092,113, with Freetown serving as both the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into 16 districts.

Sierra Leone is governed as a presidential republic, with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. Sierra Leone is a secular state with the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience, encompassing freedom of thought and religion. Muslims constitute three-quarters of the population with a significant Christian minority. Notably, religious tolerance is very high, reflecting a social norm and part of the nation's cultural identity.

Sierra Leone's current territorial configuration was established by the British Empire through two historical phases: initially, the coastal Sierra Leone Colony was founded in 1808 to resettle returning Africans following the abolition of the slave trade; subsequently, the inland Protectorate was created in 1896 in the wake of the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. This led to the formal recognition of the territory as the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate, or British Sierra Leone. Independence from the United Kingdom was attained in 1961, with Sierra Leone transitioning into a Commonwealth realm as the Dominion of Sierra Leone under the leadership of Prime Minister Sir Milton Margai of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).

Under prime minister Siaka Stevens of the All People's Congress (APC), the country adopted a new constitution in 1971, transforming Sierra Leone into a presidential republic with Stevens as the inaugural president. After declaring the APC the sole legal party in 1978, Stevens was succeeded by Joseph Saidu Momoh in 1985. Momoh's enactment of a new constitution in 1991 reintroduced a multi-party system. That year, a protracted civil war initiated, featuring the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, leading to significant turmoil. The conflict, characterized by multiple coups d'état, persisted for 11 years. Intervention by ECOMOG forces and later the United Kingdom resulted in the defeat of the RUF in 2002, ushering in a period of relative stability and recovery efforts. The remaining two main political parties are the APC and the SLPP. (Full article...)

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Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

The Sierra Leone Creole people (Krio: Krio pipul) are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, 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 Sierra Leone Creoles are 1.2 percent of the population of Sierra Leone.

The Creoles of Sierra Leone have varying degrees of European ancestry, similar to their Americo-Liberian neighbours and sister ethnic group in Liberia. In Sierra Leone, some of the settlers intermarried with English colonial residents and other Europeans. Through the Jamaican Maroons, some Creoles probably also have indigenous Amerindian Taíno ancestry. The mingling of newly freed black and racially-mixed Nova Scotians and Jamaican Maroons from the 'New World' with Liberated Africans – such as the Akan, Bakongo, Ewe, Igbo and Yoruba – over several generations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, led to the eventual formation of a Creole ethnicity. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 2The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 3A 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 4An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 5Moa River Bridge, Sierra Leone. Lisk-Carew Brothers, Freetown, Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 6A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 7Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 8Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 9The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 10African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 11An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 12A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 13Isata 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 14Isata 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 15Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 16African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 17A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 18Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 19Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 20A proportional representation of Sierra Leone exports, 2019 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 21National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 22The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 23Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 24A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 25The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 26Temne 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 27The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 28A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 29Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 30Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 31Temne 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 32A proportional representation of Sierra Leone exports, 2019 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 33The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 34Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 35Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 36A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 37Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 38A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 39British 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 40The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 41A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 42Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 43A 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 44Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 45A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 46National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 47A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 48An 1835 illustration of liberated Africans arriving in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 49Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 50The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 51Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 52Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 53A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 54The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 55Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 56An 1835 illustration of liberated Africans arriving in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 57A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 58Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 59Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 60Moa River Bridge, Sierra Leone. Lisk-Carew Brothers, Freetown, Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 61The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 62British 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)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

A pygmy hippopotamus at Edinburgh Zoo

The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis) is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has been extirpated from Nigeria.

The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being its much larger relative, the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Nile hippopotamus. The pygmy hippopotamus displays many terrestrial adaptations, but like the common hippo, it is semiaquatic and relies on water to keep its skin moist and its body temperature cool. Behaviors such as mating and giving birth may occur in water or on land. The pygmy hippo is herbivorous, feeding on ferns, broad-leaved plants, grasses, and fruits it finds in the forests. (Full article...)

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Aniru Conteh British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War Sierra Leone women's national football team Sierra Leone at the 2016 Summer Paralympics 2017 Sierra Leone mudslides Sierra Leone at the 2012 Summer Olympics Western African Ebola virus epidemic Operation Barras