Sierra Leone and its Identity Salone

Book excerpt: This book is about the country and the people of Sierra Leone. It is also about the history of the country and the different ethnic groups which constitute the population and how they live. It is also about the geography and climate of the country, its towns and cities. It is a general introduction to Sierra Leone and includes coverage of some of the most tragic events in the history of the country and its collapse when it was plunged into a civil war, one of the most brutal conflicts in the history of post-colonial Africa. Included in the book are interviews with some American ambassadors to Sierra Leone which shed more light on the country, providing a more comprehensive picture of one of the most fascinating countries on the African continent; also one of the most traumatized because of the horrendous tragedy it went through during the civil war which lasted for more than ten years and spilled across borders especially in terms of human suffering, with waves of refugees seeking shelter in neighbouring countries. It is also a country that almost never became one had the indigenous people won wars against the settlers from Britain and North America as well as the Caribbean who first settled in what came to be known as Freetown, later and still the capital of the country, which formed the nucleus of what came to be known as the British colony and protectorate of Sierra Leone. But that is a story for another book.