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West Africa(UN: Western Africa)

Flag of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Republic of Sierra Leone

Founded around a settlement for freed and formerly enslaved people, later scarred by a diamond-fuelled civil war, and home to the Krio language and culture.

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Sierra Leone in pictures

Flag, landscapes, landmarks and wildlife you can meet in the games. Photographs come from each subject’s Wikipedia article.

  • Flag of Sierra Leone

    Flag

    Flag of Sierra Leone

    National flag

  • Tiwai Island

    Landscape

    Tiwai Island

    A real place in Sierra Leone

  • Tiwai Island

    Landmark

    Tiwai Island

    Eleven kinds of monkey live on twelve square kilometres.

  • Bunce Island

    Landmark

    Bunce Island

    A ruined slave-trading fort with deep links to the Gullah people of America.

  • Zebra duiker

    Wildlife

    Zebra duiker

    Its gold coat carries black stripes like a tiny zebra.

  • Pygmy hippopotamus

    Wildlife

    Pygmy hippopotamus

    Only a tenth the weight of its river cousin, and it lives alone.

  • Freetown

    City

    Freetown

    Capital of Sierra Leone

Capital

Freetown

Population

8,819,794

World Bank, 2025

Area

71,740 km²

Currency

Sierra Leonean leone

GDP per person

$846

Current US$, 2025

Life expectancy

62 yrs

World Bank, 2024

Urban population

45.9%

UN member

Yes

Quick facts

Did you know?

Sierra Leone abolished the death penalty in 2021.

The Amistad captives were mostly Mende people from this region.

Your route

Where to start with Sierra Leone

Every chapter above begins with the essentials and then lets you keep going deeper — four levels of depth, or your own question, researched from this country's reference data and our sourced library.

Go deeper: Orientation of Sierra Leone

Researched live from this country's reference data and our library. Keep pressing to go further, or ask your own question.

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Reference figures come from the World Bank Open Data API and the ISO 3166 country dataset, each shown with its year. Historical and cultural text is written by our editors and marks contested dating where scholars disagree. The "go deeper" chapters are generated live by Africa AI from that same reference data and our sourced library — check them before quoting. Borders shown are for orientation and do not imply a position on any dispute.