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 Republic of Sierra Leone is on the shores of North
Atlantic Ocean. It shares its boundaries
with Guinea and Liberia.
The country
consists of three main geographical regions. The Sierra Leone Peninsula
in the extreme west which is most mountainous, rising to about 2,900ft.
This area was called Sierra Leone (the Lion Mountains) by the
Portuguese explorer Pedro de Cintra in 1462. The western part of the
country, excluding the Peninsula, consists of coastal mangrove swamps
and a coastal plain that extends inland from 60 to 100 miles. Many
rivers in this area are navigable for short distances. In the east and
northeast is a plateau region ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 ft, with
peaks of over 6,000 ft (Loma Mansa - Bintimani 6,390 ft) in the Loma
Mountains and Tingi Hills
Sierra
Leone got its independence from Britain as early as in 1961 but they
took more than 30 years to prepare a Constitution for the country. Even this constitution has had several
amendments since 1991. The curse of Sierra
Leone is its civil war. Several people are
dead and almost 30% of the population got displaced in the civil war.
Almost all of them are refugees in the neighboring countries. Disarmament and demobilization of the fighting
factions were achieved by the involvement of international community
and the World Bank.
The
country seems to limp back to normalcy with
the help of UN peace keepers, after the general elections in 2002.
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| Age
structure: |
0-14 years: 44.73%
(male 1,190,207; female 1,237,326) |
| Religions: |
Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs
30%, Christian 10% |
| Languages: |
English, Mende, Temne, Krio |
| Literacy: |
definition: age 15
and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic |
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