Sierra Leone: A West African Country

Decent Essays
Sierra Leone is a west african country that has a lot to offer. The name, Sierra Leone, derived from Portuguese explorers after encountering a mountain resembling a lion on their exploration. Originally Sierra Lyoa, meaning mountain lion, was the name given to the country, but was evolved over time resulting in the name it has now. Sierra Leone has a lot of history behind it. Today the country has things to offer that others simple can not.
This country was one of the first europeans grew interest in because of its location and the advantages that came along with the Sierra Leone River. Around the end of the 1400’s a bay was opened by sea traders for trading goods. Sierra Leone was importing beeswax and fine ivory works and exporting swords

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Although some researchers of history have argued that slavery is dead after the Age of Imperialism and World War 1, closer examination shows that slavery is still very common today around the world. Slavery had been going on for hundreds of years; history.com confirms this: “Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco.” During this crazy time period, the Age of Imperialism, slave trading was very popular. Traders would ambush villages of the natives and capture them. According to enclyopedia.org, “The Portuguese African trade evolved from raids along the African coast that began in 1441 to more peaceful…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The U.S. Responsibilities of Issues in Liberia . Liberia is located in Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and is between Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone. It is a country of foreign companies owning most of its land and wealth. It was first settled in by Americo-Liberians in 1817. This was the first cause of conflict in Liberia.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prince Henry Prince Henry was better known as Henry the navigator. He was not called Henry the navigator because he went to sea himself, but rather because he encouraged exploration in the 15th century. Henry the Navigator was born in Porto, Portugal, in 1394. Henry was neither a sailor nor a navigator, he sponsored a great deal of exploration along the west coast of Africa. Henry is regarded as an originator of the Age of Discovery and the Atlantic slave trade.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Portugal started the slave trade in 1434 with West Africa which welcomed them into a more global economy. Organized around kinships, African leaders provided…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Liberia Research Paper

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Liberia Liberia was created in 1820 when the United States negotiated the rights for their freed slaves to settle there. In 1847 the country was declared a republic and operated with similar political institutions as the US. Liberia has many problems that have come from the two civil wars that took place between 1989 and 1996 and between 1999 and 2003, poor government and mismanagement. As the poorest country in Africa, its standards of living need to be improved drastically. Liberia’s political, economic and social factors prevent it from improving its standards of living.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The name "Sierra Leone" goes again to 1462, when Portuguese wayfarer Pedro da Cintra, cruising down the West African coast, saw the tall mountains ascending on what is currently the Freetown Peninsula and called them the "Lion Mountains," or " Serra Lyoa ." Successive visits by English mariners and later British colonization changed the name to "Sierra Leone." Despite different local varieties in dialect and neighborhood customs, Sierra Leoneans today are united by numerous components, for example, their imparted most widely used language Krio, across the board enrollment in men's and ladies' social affiliations and social orders, and actually brandishing occasions, particularly when the national football (soccer) joint efforts. In the meantime,…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Filled with savagery and brutality, leading to the ethnic cleansing of a poverty ridden community through the abusive use of power, place, and people and undocumented use of national resources for personal satisfaction, Sierra Leone is constantly fought over for the resources she holds. Many lobbyist groups exist who seek to control and address the policies about the abundant resources present in Sierra Leone, consequently the country is constantly crippling from within. To understand the inner reality of the diamond industry in Sierra Leone, there is a need to take a look back in its history. Sierra Leone was colonized by the English, in which, the De Beers Corporation controlled much of the diamond mining area in Sierra Leone. Despite gaining independence, the diamond sector was still controlled by the De Beers.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mali is most famous for their possession of gold. As a gift, Mansu Musa gave gold to many of the people that he met in Cairo. He actually introduced so much gold to the economy of Cairo that gold became useless. The people were impressed by the great wealth of the Mali empire. As a result of the wealth through trade and gold, the people of these African Kingdoms lived in an area of great and luxurious…

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sierra Leone is located in west Africa bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. It has an area of 71,740 square kilometers. It has nearly 402 km of coastline. The climate is tropical and humid all year. Rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Not only did his violent actions affect him after the war, they transformed him as a person, he lost 2 families because of the war, his actual family and his fellow brothers in arms. The war made him flee the country to the United States because he could no longer stay in Sierra Leone. This all has taught me that if you use violence it will change everything you perceive in life. It could make you more angry then you were which will make things worse because if you use violent actions against people eventually it will get you hurt or arrested and maybe even killed. Also, the consequences of violent acts can linger for years, give you nightmares and haunt you until you learn to accept what you have done.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sierra Leone Downfall

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sierra Leone was inhabited by early Africans over two thousand years ago but became part of the United Nations in 1961 when they gained their independence from the British. Sierra Leone had been a colony of Britain ever since 1808. As like the entire world, there was a great influence that came from Africa. Britain actually used Sierra Leone as a great educational ground by establishing the only University in Sub-Saharan Africa.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Life of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough”. These words are one of the most popular quotes made by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Sirleaf is currently serving as Liberia’s first female president. After years of personal hardships, political controversies, and life threatening conflicts, Sirleaf was able to rise above it and become something few people thought possible.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Portugal

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Portugal’s Influence on The Kingdom of Kongo The slave trade has been argued to be one of the world’s most disastrous eras and its history is deeply rooted in Central-West Africa. In the early 16th century, The Kingdom of Kongo’s ruler, King Afonso I, addressed the King of Portugal in a series of letters where he expressed his concerns about their interconnected trading system; in which merchandise and slaves were exchanged between both states. Portugal noticed the naivety of the Kongo’s leader so they continued to depopulate their land which led to The Kingdom of Kongo’s gradual decline.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the majority of countries being in the Sub-Saharan Africa it takes a large amount of effort to unite all of them into a peaceful community. With wars, political corruption and disease spreading out, it can take away from natural opportunities that Sub- Saharan Africa has to offer such as the tourism industry that brings in a large part of any African country since they have so much to offer in the wildlife aspect. Most of those countries hold very specific advantages to their geography such as vast deserts and tropical forests. With vegetation and many different types of ecosystems this part of Africa has very large reserves in oil, which still makes this continent very significant to the rest of the world. Besides natural resources and conflicts this part of Africa is known to be the birthplace of early humans and is the roots of the human race.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The time setting of this study is 1500 to the decolonization period of 1960s thus it can be noted that Rodney’s work was a scientific study. He explains this Euro-Africa relationship with six chapters that clearly bring out the main theme of this book which is Underdevelopment of Africa by Europe by use of Historical Development; where he seeks to explain the events that led to Africa’s…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays