This land, 171 thousand square kilometers in all, comprises three geophysical zones: the coastal plains of lagoons, mangrove swamps, sloughs and beaches; a low plateau--less than 1,000 meters high, with a mix of grasslands and forest; and mountains, not reaching 2,000 meters. An exception to the coastal pattern is the volanic peninsula called Sierra Leone. Numerous rivers flow from the mountains, through the plateau and to the Atlantic.
There is no single first language accounting for even as many as one in four of the more than eight million living here. Almost 19 in 20, however, speak Niger-Congo languages. Of these, the most important are Mende(1)--more than two in ten, Themne(2)--more than three in 20, Liberia Kpelle--more than one in 20 and Bassa--one in 20.(3) The only important language that is not Niger-Congo is Krio, an English-based creole, spoken as a first language by more than one in 20 and as a lingua franca by most Sierra Leonans. The Liberian national language, mostly as a second language, is English.
Although religious statistics are unreliable, most feel about nine in 20 are Moslems, almost seven in 20 are Christians, and more than two in ten follow local beliefs. But many Christians and Moslems include traditional local practices with the global ones. The local beliefs in southeastern Liberia, among Grebo and Krahn people, include ritual killing and removal of body parts, most frequently the heart, liver and genitals. Sometimes the rituals include eating those parts; in the recent civil war, for example, one militia leader filmed himself eating parts from former leaders of rival militias.(4)
Only one metropolitan area exceeds one million. Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, has just under a million in the city limits, but closer to two million overall. The city is mostly in runs after the civil war, including its former landmark, the Masonic Temple, emblematic of the Americo-Liberian elite.
Mende people may have been spoken locally for a long time, but its speakers increased through the Mende enslaving others (until 1928(5)) and expansion coastwards in the 19th century.
Themne was spoken locally from before the Europeans arrived(6), but it only expanded coastward later--by the 18th century. Bullom (or Sherbro) was the Sierra Leonan coastal lingua franca before being displaced by Themne and Mende.
Speakers of Kru languages like Bassa, Grebo and Krahn, lived along the Liberian coast by the 16th century, although their oral tradition says they migrated there from the interior.
Krio's origins are uncertain; cited influences are: freed slaves from the Caribbean that were repatriated in the 18th century; English West African pidgin; Akan, which was important in early British colonialism in West Africa; and repatriated slaves in the 19th century, who had a mix of languages, including Nigerian ones and English creoles.
Christianity became important under American and European influence after slavery ended. Islam has an older history, perhaps dating back to the 13th century influence of the Empire of Mali, perhaps earlier, or perhaps later when that empire declined.
northwest and north of Sierra Leone, and north of Liberia
east
southwest
(1) Formerly called Mande or Kosso. Its Loko dialect is sometimes considered a separate language.
(2) Also spelled Temne or Timne.
(3) Many more speak Menda and Themne as second languages.
(4) Source: International Religious Freedom Report 2003, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the U.S. Department of State, in www.state.gov/g/rls/irf/2003/23716.htm, accessed 4/4/2007.
(5) Leval abolition in Sierra Leone.
(6)1582.