Portal:Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Portal

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the west 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 savannahs to rainforests. As at the 2023 census, Sierra Leone had 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. 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 part of the British Empire, to be 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 recognised 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, characterised 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. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

Cinqué in 1840

Sengbe Pieh (c. 1814 – c. 1879), also known as Joseph Cinqué or Cinquez and sometimes referred to mononymously as Cinqué, was a West African man of the Mende people who led a revolt of many Africans on the Spanish slave ship La Amistad in July 1839. After the ship was taken into custody by the US Revenue-Marine, Cinqué and his fellow Africans were eventually tried for mutiny and killing officers on the ship, in a case known as United States v. The Amistad. This reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where Cinqué and his fellow Africans were found to have rightfully defended themselves from being enslaved through the illegal Atlantic slave trade and were released. The US government did not provide any aid to the acquitted Mende People. The United Missionary Society, a black group founded by James W.C. Pennington, helped raise money for the return of thirty-five of the survivors to Sierra Leone in 1842. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images - show another

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

Image 1A 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 2A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 3British 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 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 5An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 6A 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 7British 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 8Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 9A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 10Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 11A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 12Sierra Leone electricity production by source (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 14The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 15National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 16Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 17Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 18The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 19Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 20The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 21Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 22A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 23A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 24The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 25A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 26An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 27Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 28African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 29The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 30African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (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 32An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 33Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 34The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 35Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 36Isata 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 37A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 38Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, c. 1490-1510 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 39Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 40The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 41A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 42A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 43Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 44Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 45Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 46Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 47The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 48The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 49National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 50Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 51The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 52Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 53Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 54Temne 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 55A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 56A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 57Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, c. 1490-1510 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 58A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 59Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 60Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)

Recognized content - show another

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

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...)