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 of 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...)

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Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by Leone Rock Metal Group. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpool are the two biggest and most successful clubs. The National Premier League is controlled by the Sierra Leone Football Association. The season runs from December to July. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 2The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 3A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 4Temne 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 5Isata 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 6An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 7A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 8Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave facility was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 9Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 10A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 11A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 12Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 13The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 14A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 15British 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 16A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 17The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 18National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 19Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, c. 1490-1510 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 20Temne 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 21Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 22The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 23A 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 24The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 25An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 26Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 27Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 28Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 29Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 30An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 31National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 32Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 33The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 34African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 35Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 36A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 37Electricity generation in Sierra Leone in terawatt-hours (from Sierra Leone)
Image 38British 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 39A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 40Isata 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 41An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 42Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 43A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 44The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 45Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, c. 1490-1510 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 46Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 47African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 48A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 49Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave facility was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 50Electricity generation in Sierra Leone in terawatt-hours (from Sierra Leone)

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A simplified map of the epidemic

The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The first cases were recorded in Guinea in December 2013; the disease spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, with minor outbreaks occurring in Nigeria and Mali. Secondary infections of medical workers occurred in the United States and Spain. Isolated cases were recorded in Senegal, the United Kingdom and Italy. The number of cases peaked in October 2014 and then began to decline gradually, following the commitment of substantial international resources.

It caused significant mortality, with a high case fatality rate. By the end of the epidemic, 28,616 people had been infected; of these, 11,310 had died, for a case-fatality rate of 40%. As of 8 May 2016^[update], the World Health Organization (WHO) and respective governments reported a total of 28,646 suspected cases and 11,323 deaths (39.5%), though the WHO believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak. On 8 August 2014, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern was declared and on 29 March 2016, the WHO terminated the Public Health Emergency of International Concern status of the outbreak. Subsequent flare-ups occurred; the epidemic was finally declared over on 9 June 2016, 42 days after the last case tested negative on 28 April 2016 in Monrovia. (Full article...)