Bonthe District is a district that comprises several

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

and

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in the Southern Province of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. Bonthe is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Its capital is the town of Bonthe Island and its largest city is

Bonthe Bonthe is a coastal town located on Sherbro Island in Bonthe District in the southern Province of Sierra Leone. The town lies on the eastern shore of Sherbro Island, on the Sherbro River estuary. Bonthe is about 60 miles south-west of Bo and 187 ...

, on

Sherbro Island Sherbro Island is in the Atlantic Ocean, and is included within Bonthe District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. The island is separated from the African mainland by the Sherbro River in the north and Sherbro Strait in the east. It is long ...

. As of the 2015 census, the district had a population of 200,730. Bonthe District is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Bonthe District is subdivided into eleven

chiefdoms A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

. The District occupies a total area of 3,468 km². The District of Bonthe borders the

to the west,

Moyamba District Moyamba District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, with a population of 318,064 in the 2015 census. Its capital and largest city is Moyamba. The other major towns include Njala, Rotifunk and Shenge. The district is the lar ...

to the northwest,

Bo District Bo District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. It is one of the sixteen Districts of Sierra Leone. Bo District is the fourth most populous District in Sierra Leone. Its capital city, capital and largest city is the city of ...

to the southeast and

Pujehun District Pujehun District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Pujehun District is one of the sixteen Districts of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is the town of Pujehun . The other major towns in the district include Gando ...

to the south. The fifth and current

President of Sierra Leone The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. As the head of the executive branch of the Sierra Leone government, the presi ...

Julius Maada Bio Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born 12 May 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier general in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leo ...

is from Bonthe District. Bonthe district is largely made up of two main ethnic groups; the Sherbro and Mende. Bonthe district is the native home of the

Sherbro people The Sherbro people are a native people of Sierra Leone, who speak the Sherbro language; they make up 1.9% of Sierra Leone's population or 134,606. The Sherbro are found primarily in their homeland in Bonthe District, where they make up 40% o ...

who make up a large minority of the district population. Bonthe district has a large population of both

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. Bonthe District has one of the world's largest deposits of

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

ore (rutile) in the world.

Sierra Rutile Limited Sierra Rutile Limited (Titanium Resources Group Ltd. until 2011) is a mining company with headquarters based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The company currently has operating mines for Rutile, ilmenite, zircon, and titanium dioxide minerals in South ...

, owned by a consortium of US and European investors, began commercial mining operations in Bonthe in early 1979. Due to poor mining policy, the region has little to show for this huge economic potential.

Demography

Bonthe District is mainly inhabited by the Mende and Sherbro people. The Mende are the largest ethnic group in the district; followed by the Sherbro people.

Religion

Government

Bonthe District is divided into two political administrations; the district headquarters town on Sherbro Island is headed by a Municipal Mayor, and the mainland is governed by a district council Chairman based in Mattru Jong. The Bonthe District is headed by the Mayor; he and the District Council Chairman are the highest local government officials in the district of Bonthe. The District Council Chairman and the Municipal Mayor are responsible for the general management of the district and for seeing that all local laws are enforced. The District Council Chairman is elected directly by the residents where the District Council is governed and also the Mayor is elected by residents of Bonthe Municipality. The current Mayor of Bonthe Municipality is His Worship Mayor Layemin Joe Sandi and the District Council Chairman of Bonthe District Council is Mr. Moese Jude Probyn of the

Sierra Leone People's Party The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018. The SLPP do ...

(SLPP). There were elected in the 2018 Sierra Leone local government election.

Members of Parliament

Bonthe District is a stronghold of the

(SLPP). In the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential and parliamentary Elections, the SLPP won the majority (99.9%) of the votes in the Bonthe District. The party also won all three seats in the Sierra Leone Parliament from Bonthe District. The District has only three Representatives in the

Parliament of Sierra Leone Parliament of Sierra Leone is the legislative branch of the government of Sierra Leone. It is principally responsible for making laws. The Sierra Leone parliament consists of 146 members, of which 132 members are directly elected from across Si ...

, of which all four were elected for a 5-year term in the 2018 Sierra Leone General Elections. The district is a stronghold of the SLPP party, ierra Leone People's Party ). Below is the list of Representatives in the Sierra Leonean Parliament:

Administrative divisions

The district is made up of eleven

as the third level of administrative subdivision. Although the headquarters town, Bonthe, is located on Sherbro Island, it is part of neither of the two chiefdoms on the island: Sittia and Dema. Instead, the town is part of the Bonthe Sherbro Municipality, outside of the chiefdom administrative structure.

Chiefdoms

Major towns

, district capital (2012 estimated pop. 8,344) * Bonthe Island

Economy

The main economic activities include fishing, rice growing and palm oil plantations. Mattru is the main city, located 52 miles southwest of Bo, along the Jong River, which provides access to

and the Atlantic Ocean.

Effects of the civil war

Bonthe district was first among the districts in the Southern Province to undertake voluntary resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 1997 among all economic hardship and combatant activities. The District suffered the mass exodus of IDPs when Sierra Rutile Company (the largest foreign exchange earner, taxpayer and employer of mine workers) suffered damage and destruction when attacked by fighting forces in 1995, and during all phases of the war. The company terminated its operations. Many indigenes, however, believe that the resettlement and rehabilitation activities of IDPs and the restart of

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

operations will help fast-track the recovery process. They believe this could complement the government in the consolidation of peace and the drive for recovery.

References

{{authority control Districts of Sierra Leone Southern Province, Sierra Leone