Sierra Leone: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa on the Atlantic coast, between Guinea to the north and east and Liberia to the south-east. Its capital, Freetown, lies on a mountainous peninsula beside one of the largest natural harbours in the world. The country's name comes from the Portuguese words for 'Lion Mountains'.

Sierra Leone is known for its long, sandy beaches, rainforests, diamonds and its special history as a home for people freed from slavery. On the globe you can find Bunce Island, the ruins of an old slave-trading fort in the Sierra Leone River, and the diamond mines around Koidu.

Geography and nature

Sierra Leone has mangrove swamps and beaches along the coast, wide plains in the middle and plateaus and mountains in the east, where Mount Bintumani is the highest peak at about 1,945 metres. The climate is hot and humid, with a long rainy season. Rainforests such as the Gola forest are home to chimpanzees, forest elephants and many birds. On Tiwai Island in the Moa River, visitors can look for rare pygmy hippos and eleven kinds of primates.

People, languages and culture

English is the official language, but Krio, an English-based creole, is spoken by almost everyone to talk across groups such as the Temne and Mende. Most people are Muslim and many are Christian, and Sierra Leone is known for people of different religions living side by side, even within one family. Favourite foods include cassava leaves cooked in palm oil, groundnut stew and jollof rice. Music, masked dancers and colourful fabrics are part of celebrations.

History in a nutshell

Portuguese sailors mapped the coast in the 1460s. Later, British traders ran forts such as Bunce Island, where captured Africans were held before being shipped across the Atlantic. In 1792 Freetown was founded as a settlement for formerly enslaved people, many arriving from Nova Scotia in Canada. Sierra Leone became a British colony and gained independence on 27 April 1961. A civil war from 1991 to 2002 caused great suffering, and since then the country has worked hard to keep the peace.