10 Things You Didn't Know About Sierra Leone

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sierra Leone
Hello Displorers, welcome to another informative video and thanks for watching. As you all know it’s always a pleasure presenting to you some interesting but lesser known facts about the beautiful countries on the African continent. In this video, we are excited to present to you some lesser known facts about the country of sierra Leone. Officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, it is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea to the northeast. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests, and a total area of 71,740 km2 and a population of 7.9 million people. The capital and largest city is Freetown. Sixteen ethnic groups inhabit Sierra Leone, each with its own language and customs. The two largest and most influential are the Temne and Mende. The Temne are predominantly found in the northwest of the country, and the Mende in the southeast. Comprising a small minority, about 2%, are the Krio people, who are descendants of freed African-American and West Indian slaves. Although English is the official language, used in schools and government administration,Krio, an English-based creole, is the most widely spoken language across Sierra Leone. Spoken by 98% of the population, Krio unites all the ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction.

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Sierra Leone is a Muslim-majority country 77%, with an influential Christian minority at 22% and is regarded as one of the most religiously tolerant countries in the world. Muslims and Christians collaborate and interact with each other very peacefully, and religious violence is very rare. The major Christian and Muslim holidays are officially public holidays in the country, including Christmas, Easter, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The current president of Sierra Leone country is Julius Maada Bio and its currency is the Leone.
So, without any further ado, here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about Sierra Leone.
1. The National Symbol of Freedom Is A Tree
The Cotton Tree is a historic symbol in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. According to tradition, former African-American slaves landed on the shoreline and walked up to this giant tree and held a thanksgiving service, praying and singing hymns to thank God for their deliverance to this free land. They settled here, the site of modern Freetown.The palm tree and the rice grain are also the national symbols par excellence, immortalizedin currency, song, and folklore, and valued for theircentral and staple contributions to everyday life. Different species of palms contribute to cooking oil, thatch roofs, fermented wine, soap, fruits, and nuts.
2. The British Sent Freed Slaves Here
Freetown is so named for a reason. Land bought from local Themne chiefs in the late 18th century became the new home for resettled freed slaves from Britain and North America, and of ‘recaptives’ taken off seized slave ships on the Atlantic after Britain passed the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. The island was the final point of departure for many West Africans who had been sold into slavery across the Americas.In 1787, the British sent 400 former slaves to settle in modern-day Freetown. Most of these settlers died, though. Then in 1792, the British sent 1,200 former slaves living in Nova Scotia, Canada,to settle in Sierra Leone. In 1808, after the abolition of the British slave trade, the British sent more freed slaves to Sierra Leone after liberating them from illegal slave ships. Today,Sierra Leone is made up of the descendants of these early settlers and the indigenous tribes such as the Mende and Temne people.
3. Their History Is Built into A Church
The pews and rafters in Saint John's Maroon Church are recycled pieces of history, made from a ship that brought freed Jamaican slaves from Nova Scotia, Canada. The church was built in 1820, making it one of Freetown’s oldest churches. It still stands there as a reminder of their past and a beacon of hope to the lengths they have come despite all.

4. They Suffered Through A 10-Year Civil War
Yes, Sierra Leone is amongst the many African countries that have gone through a civil war. Internal conflict crippled the country from the late 1980s onward, culminating in the brutal civil war that took place from 1991 to 2002. Between 1991 and 2001, war between rival groups competing for control of Sierra Leone left more than 50,000 people dead and the country’s infrastructure in pieces. It also displaced more than two million people, who fled into

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