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About West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:
With the exception of Mauritania, all of these countries are members of the ECOWAS or Economic Community of West African States.
West Africa is oriented west of an imagined north-south axis lying close to 10° east longitude. The Atlantic Ocean forms the western and southern borders of the region. The northern border is the Sahara Desert, with the Niger Bend generally considered the northernmost part of the region. The Eastern border is less precise, with some placing it at the Benue Trough, and others on a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad.
Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African nations, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more countries.
The inhabitants of West Africa are, in contrast to most of Sub-Saharan Africa, non-Bantu speaking peoples.
West Africa, if one includes the western portion of the Maghreb (Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), occupies an area in excess of 6,140,000 km2, or approximately one-fifth of Africa. The vast majority of this land is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous countries along the southern shore of the region.
The northern section of West Africa is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel, a transitional zone between the Sahara desert and the savannahs of the western Sudan forests form a third belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
About Sierra Leone
 Sierra Leone officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea in the north, Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and has a population estimated of about 5.7 million. The country has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests.
Freetown is the capital, seat of government, and largest city. Bo is the second largest city. Other major cities in the country with a population over 100,000 are Kenema, Koidu Town and Makeni. The country is home to Fourah Bay College, the oldest university in West Africa, established in 1827. Sierra Leone is also home to one of the largest natural harbors in the world, the Queen Elizabeth II Quay (also known as the QE II Quay and locally as the Deep Water Quay or Government Warf).
Sierra Leone officially contains fifteen different ethnic groups, each with its own language and costume; however, the two largest are the Mende and Temne each comprises 30% of the population. English is the official language of Sierra Leone spoken at schools, government administration and by the media.
The Krio language (a language derived from English and several African languages and native to the Sierra Leone Krio people) is the most widely spoken language in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone. The Krio language is spoken by 97% of the Sierra Leone's population and unites all the different ethnic groups, especially in their trade and interaction with each other. Bengali was made an "official language" of Sierra Leone in order to honor the Bangladeshi peacekeeping force from the United Nations stationed there.
Early inhabitants of Sierra Leone included the Sherbro, Temne and Limba, and Tyra peoples, and later the Mende, who knew the country as Romarong, and the Kono who settled in the East of the country. In 1462, it was visited by the Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra, who gave it its name Serra de Leão, meaning 'Lion Mountains'.
Sierra Leone became an important centre of the transatlantic trade in human beings (i.e., slaves), until 1792 when Freetown was founded by the Sierra Leone Company as a home for formerly enslaved African Americans. In 1808, Freetown became a British Crown Colony, and in 1896, the interior of the country became a British Protectorate; in 1961, the two combined and gained independence.
Over two decades of government neglect of the interior followed by the spilling over of the Liberian conflict into its borders eventually led to the Sierra Leone Civil War, which began in 1991 and was resolved in 2000 after the United Nations led by Nigeria defeated the rebel forces and restored the civilian government elected in 1998 to Freetown.
Since then, almost 72,500 former combatants have been disarmed and the country has reestablished a functioning democracy. The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up in 2002 to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since 1996.
Fueling the country’s conflict was its large natural resources of diamonds. Today, Sierra Leone remains arguably the largest and most diverse store of natural resources in the world, with 44 of 52 known elements found in its land. \
Sierra Leone is the lowest ranked country on the Human Development Index and seventh lowest on the Human Poverty Index suffering from endemic corruption and suppression of the press.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
About Kono District
Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town, which is also the fourth largest city in Sierra Leone. The other major town in the district is Yengema and Tombodu. The population of Kono District was 335,401 in the 2004 census. Kono District borders Kenema District to the southwest, The Republic of Guinea to the east, Koinadugu District east and Kailahun District to the southeast. Kono District is one of the most ethnically diverse District Sierra Leone. The district is primarily inhabited by the Kono people, who make up by far the largest ethnic group in the district.
Kono District has been called the "breadbasket" of Sierra Leone because of its economic importance.
Every year the District produces hundreds of millions of U.S dollars worth of diamonds and is home to the largest concentration of artisanal miners in the world. The diamonds from Kono District, since they were discovered in the 1930s, have accounted for more than 50% of the Gross National Product of Sierra Leone. Despite of this huge contribution to the Sierra Leone economy, Kono remains one of the poorest districts of Sierra Leone.
Before the civil war, Kono District had a population well over 600,000; however, it experienced devastation during the Sierra Leone Civil War, which forced many of the residents out of the district. The district was heavily looted and constantly fought over due to its rich diamond reserves.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
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