At a Glance

Official Name: Republic of Sierra Leone

Continent: Africa

Area: 27, 925 square miles (71,620 sq. km)

Population: 5,426,618

Capital City: Freetown

Largest City: Freetown (1,300,000)

Unit of Money: Leone

Major Languages: English (official), Mende

Literacy: 31%

Land Use: 7% arable, 1% permanent crops, 31% pastures, 28% forests, 33% other

Natural Resources: Diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite

Government: Constitutional democracy

Defense: 14 million

The Place

Sierra Leone is a small country north of the Equator on the western "bulge" of Africa. It is among the world's leading countries in the production of diamonds, which lie in gravel deposits along riverbeds and in swamps in eastern parts of the country. Swamps cover the coastal region and extend about 20 miles (32 kilometers) inland. Inland, a coastal plain extends as far as 100 miles (160 kilometers) then slopes up to plateaus and mountains that rise to more than 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) near the eastern border with Guinea. Sandy soil, on which only short grass grows, covers more than half the country. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a dry season in January and February in the south and December through March in the north. Rainfall on the coast can be as high as 195 inches (495 centimeters) a year, making it one of the wettest places in Africa. Temperatures average from 77° to 81° F (25° to 27° C).

The People

Most of Sierra Leone's people are black Africans who form 12 main ethnic groups. About one third of the people belong to the Mende group in the southern part of the country. About one third belong to the Temne group in western Sierra Leone. About 10% of the people are Creoles descended from freed slaves who returned to Sierra Leone from America in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Most men of Sierra Leone are farmers. Many grow only enough food for their families, however, and work mining diamonds during the dry season. Many women sell goods in local markets. English is Sierra Leone's official language. Most of the people, however, speak local African languages. Most people in Sierra Leone live in poverty. Diseases, malnutrition, and warfare combine to make the country's life expectancy, 43 years, among the lowest in the world.