Portal:Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Portal

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest 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 savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone has 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 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 recognized 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, characterized 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.

Sierra Leone is a culturally diverse country, home to approximately 18 ethnic groups, with the Temne and Mende peoples being predominant. The Creole people, descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean slaves and liberated Africans, constitute about 1.2% of the population. English is the official language, while Krio is the lingua franca, spoken by 97% of the population. The country is rich with natural resources, notably diamonds, gold, bauxite and aluminium. As of the most recent survey in 2019, 59.2% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty and an additional 21.3% vulnerable to it. Sierra Leone maintains membership in several international organisations, including the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Commonwealth of Nations, among others. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Margai in 2023

Charles Francis Kondo Margai (born 19 August 1945) is a Sierra Leonean politician and constitutional lawyer who served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone in 2018.

Margai is a former candidate for the office of President of Sierra Leone and the leader of the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC). He was his party's candidate in the August 2007 presidential election, placing third with 10% of the vote. Though he received less than 3% of the votes in the 2012 and 2018 Sierra Leone presidential elections. Margai is the son of Albert Margai, former Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, and the nephew of Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister Milton Margai. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images -

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

Image 1The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 2A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 3Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 4A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 5Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, 1490-1510 ca (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 7Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 8An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 9Sierra Leone map of Köppen climate classification (from Sierra Leone)
Image 10The road from Kenema to Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 11Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 12An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 13Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 14Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 15A 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 16Temne 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 17National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 18A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 19A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 20Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)
Image 21A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 22Sierra Leone electricity production by source (from Sierra Leone)
Image 23The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 24Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 25A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 26Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 27Odelay mask by Temne people. Brooklyn Museum. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 28African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 29Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, 1490-1510 ca (from Sierra Leone)
Image 30African Naval ratings march past the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Hubert Stevenson. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 31British 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 32Historical GDP per capita development (from Sierra Leone)
Image 33A school in Koindu destroyed during the Civil War; in total 1,270 primary schools were destroyed in the War. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 34Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 35The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 36A situation map of the Ebola outbreak as of 8 August 2014 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 37Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 38Bunce Island, 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by John and Alexander Anderson (from Sierra Leone)
Image 39A secondary school class in Pendembu, Kailahun District (from Sierra Leone)
Image 40British 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 41Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 42A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 43The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 44A radio listener in Kailahun (from Sierra Leone)
Image 45The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 46The 14 districts and 2 areas of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 47Temne 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 48Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 49National Stadium in Freetown (from Sierra Leone)
Image 50Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 51The distribution of major ethnic groups within Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 52Bai Bureh, Temne leader of the Hut Tax War of 1898 against British rule (from Sierra Leone)
Image 53An Ivory Hunting Horn, Sapi people, Modern day Bullom or Temne People, Sierra Leone, late 15th century (from Sierra Leone)
Image 54Isata 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 55The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 56A 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 57Isata 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 58A map of Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 59The Koindu dance (from Sierra Leone)
Image 60Fragments of prehistoric pottery from Kamabai Rock Shelter (from Sierra Leone)

Recognized content -

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

Aniru Sahib Sahib Conteh (6 August 1942 – 4 April 2004) was a Sierra Leonean physician and expert on the clinical treatment of Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic to West Africa caused by the Lassa virus. Conteh studied medicine at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and taught at Ibadan Teaching Hospital. He later returned to Sierra Leone where he joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Lassa fever program at Nixon Methodist Hospital in Segbwema, first as superintendent and then as clinical director.

After the Sierra Leone Civil War began in 1991, the CDC closed their program in Segbwema. Conteh and his medical team moved from Segbwema to the Kenema Government Hospital (KGH), where he spent the next two decades running the only dedicated Lassa fever ward in the world. Conteh collaborated with the British charity Merlin to promote public health in Sierra Leone through education and awareness campaigns intended to prevent Lassa fever. With little funding and few supplies, Conteh successfully reduced mortality rates and saved many lives until an accidental needlestick injury led to his own death from the disease in 2004. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles
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 Pygmy hippopotamus Operation Barras