Articles > Reference > Encyclopedias, Almanacs, Transcripts, and Maps > The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition excerpts

Article: Sierra Leone

Article from:
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Copyright

Sierra Leone , officially Republic of Sierra Leone, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,018,000), 27,699 sq mi (71,740 sq km), W Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Guinea in the north and east, and by Liberia in the south. Freetown is the capital.

Land

Sierra Leone's 350-mi (560-km) Atlantic coastline is made up of a belt (average width 30 mi/50 km) of low-lying mangrove swamps, except for the mountainous Sierra Leone Peninsula (on which Freetown is situated). The coastline is broken by numerous estuaries and has some wide, sandy beaches. Behind the coastal belt is a wooded plateau (average elevation: 1,000 ft/300 m). The eastern half of the country is mostly ...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

Article: Sierra Leone
Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography;      700+ words ... ... the striking, mountainous Sierra Leone Peninsula; a zone of low-lying ... significant features are the Sierra Leone Peninsula, where Freetown is located ... VOLCANOES The mountainous Sierra Leone Peninsula, on which Freetown is located ...

Article: Analysis: British task force to Sierra Leone stirs ...
United Press International;  November 1, 2000 ;     700+ words ... ... Tony Blair's Labor Party, Sierra Leone carries with it a long moral ... London. It bought land on the Sierra Leone peninsula from a local tribal leader ... Western Hemisphere. It was to Sierra Leone that 35 of the 53 former slaves ...

Article: Sierra Leone: Glossary
Countries of the World;      700+ words ... ... rule before 1896, namely, the Sierra Leone (Freetown) Peninsula and a ... country, as distinct from the Sierra Leone Peninsula and the islands (Sherbro ... colonial times that portion of Sierra Leone having a legal status and an ...

Article: Trophies of Grace? The "art" collecting activities of United ...
African Arts;  June 22, 2006 ;     700+ words ... ... Roman Catholic missionaries in Sierra Leone in the late sixteenth and early ... spate of missionary activity in Sierra Leone had run its course. A more ... settlement for free Africans on the Sierra Leone peninsula in 1787. The evangelizing work ...

Article: Sierra Leone: Chapter 2A. Historical Setting
Countries of the World;      700+ words ... ... of the twentieth century. As Sierra Leone lay outside the realms of the ... under British control on the Sierra Leone Peninsula. After the British government ... dependencies, including the rest of Sierra Leone, where Great Britain remained ...

Article: Sierra Leone: Chapter 2B. Founding of the Province ...
Countries of the World;      700+ words ... ... self-governing colony on the Sierra Leone Peninsula. Sharp drew up a democratic ... organization in England, the Sierra Leone Company, which sought to mix ... request they were transferred to Sierra Leone. They arrived just in time ...

Article: Sierra Leone: Chapter 3A. Geography and Population
Countries of the World;      700+ words ... ... and Population The Republic of Sierra Leone, roughly circular in shape ... includes the striking, mountainous Sierra Leone Peninsula; a zone of low-lying coastal ... distinctive, includes only the Sierra Leone, or Freetown, Peninsula ...

Article: Sierra Leone: Chapter 5A. Social System
Countries of the World;      700+ words ... ... respects, interacting and overlapping in others. The major social division was that between the Creoles of the Sierra Leone Peninsula and the indigenous peoples of the mainland. The former were totally distinct from the latter because of their ...

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!

Find articles, research, and archives