| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Sierra Leone became an independent state within the British Commonwealth on 27 April 1961, and subsequently attained republican status on 19 April 1971. The capital city is Freetown, and there are four national administrative divisions: the Eastern, Northern, and Southern Provinces, and the Western Area (Fyle 1981, 3).
There are seventeen ethnic groups within Sierra Leone:4 Mende are found in the Southern and Eastern Provinces; Temne, Limba, Kuranko, Loko, Fula, Mandigo (or Mandika), Soso, and Yalunka inhabit the Northern Province; Krio and Kru are found in the Western Area; Kono inhabit the Eastern Province; and Kissi live further inland in the Eastern Province. Sherbro/Bullom, Vai, Krim, and Gola are found along the north and south coast.
As a former British colony, Sierra Leone retains English as the official language used primarily by the literate minority, while Krio is the lingua franca. According to the National Census and Central Statistic offices in Freetown, the estimated population of Sierra Leone (as of July 2008) is 6,294,774.
Common Cultural Straits
With the notable exception of the Krio,5 most of Sierra Leone’s people groups are subsistence farmers. A comparatively small number in city centres are engaged in commercial businesses, such as the buying and selling of goods. Some craftspeople, such as blacksmiths, sculptors, and leather workers, produce and sell goods. Many master blacksmiths are Krio.
The African is a communal being. This is why the extended family system is one of the aspects of African culture that has remained largely unaltered by the impact of Westernisation. In most Sierra Leonean cultures, the basic unit is the household. This unit comprises a husband, a wife or wives (in the case of the Mende, Temne, Limba, Kono, and Muslim Krio),6 their children, ‘and frequently also blood and affinal relatives—for example, junior brothers and their wives, and unmarried sisters—as well as dependants’ (Alie 1990, 20).