:Sierra Leone is a country in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

with a

North 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 an ...

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

line to the west. It lies on the

African Plate The African Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes much of the continent of Africa (except for its easternmost part) and the adjacent oceanic crust to the west and south. It is bounded by the North American Plate and South American Plat ...

. The island's main

geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

features include wooded hill country, an upland

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

, and mountains in the east. The highest peak is

Mount Bintumani Mount Bintumani (also known as Loma Mansa) is the highest peak in Sierra Leone and the Loma Mountains, at . It lies in the Loma Mountains and its lower slopes are covered in rainforests, home to a wide variety of animals. These include pygmy ...

, which is above sea level. The coastline has a belt of

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fre ...

s. Freetown, the nation's capital city, has one of the world's largest natural harbours. The

Rokel River The Rokel River (also Seli River; previously Pamoronkoh River) is the largest river in the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa. The river basin measures in size, with the drainage divided by the Gbengbe and Kabala hills and the Sula Mountains ...

is the largest river in Sierra Leone. It is long and has a basin with a total area of . Sierra Leone is located at approximately , between the

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

and 10th parallels north of the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

. It is bordered by

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

to the north and northeast, and

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

to the south and southeast. The country has a total area of , divided into a land area of and water of .

Physical geography

Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa, between the

and 10th parallels north of the

. Sierra Leone is bordered by

to the north and northeast,

to the south and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The country has a total area of , divided into a land area of and water of . Sierra Leone has four distinct geographical regions: coastal

Guinean mangroves The Guinean mangroves are a coastal ecoregion of mangrove swamps in rivers and estuaries near the ocean of West Africa from Senegal to Sierra Leone. Location and description Guinean mangroves can be found: in the Saloum River and Casamance del ...

, the wooded hill country, an upland

, and the eastern mountains. Eastern Sierra Leone is an interior region of large plateaus interspersed with high mountains, where

rises to .

Geology

Sierra Leone can be split into three geological areas, in the east is part of the

West African craton The West African Craton (WAC) is one of the five cratons of the Precambrian basement rock of Africa that make up the African Plate, the others being the Kalahari craton, Congo craton, Saharan Metacraton and Tanzania Craton.Jessell M.W., Liégeois ...

, the western area consists of the Rokelides, an

orogenic Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumpl ...

belt, and a 20- to 30-km coastal strip of

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

Extreme points

This is a list of the extreme points of Sierra Leone, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. * Northernmost point – the northern section of the border with Guinea, Northern Province* * Easternmost point – the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with Guinea and

, Eastern Province * Southernmost point – unnamed

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

south of the town of Mano Salija at the mouth of the

Mano River The Mano River is a river in West Africa. It originates in the Guinea Highlands in Liberia and forms part of the Liberia-Sierra Leone Liberia–Sierra Leone border, border. The districts through which the river flows include the Parrot's Beak ...

, Southern Province * Westernmost point – the point at which the border with Guinea enters the Atlantic Ocean,

North West Province North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, an ...

* *''Note: Sierra Leone does not have a northernmost point, the border being formed here by

10th parallel north The 10th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 10 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, South America and the A ...

Climate

The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

; although it could be classified as a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

, it could also be described as a climate that is transitional between a continually wet

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

and a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

. There are two seasons; dry season (NovemberMay) and rainy season (JuneOctober). December to January are the coolest months of the year, although temperatures can still exceed 40°C, lower to moderate humidity makes the heat around this time of the year more tolerable. Unlike March and April, the months that it gets hot and humid with temperatures around 33°C – 36°C and a solid 50% humidity, making the heat index higher than the actual temperature. The average sea temperature is 30°C. C (6)s to year. Average rainfall is highest at the coast, 3000–5000 mm per year; moving inland this decreases and at the eastern border of the country, the average rainfall is 2000–2500 mm.

Environment issues

Rapid population growth in Sierra Leone has put pressure upon the natural environment. Environmental problems include the

overharvesting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...

of timber, the expansion of cattle grazing and

slash and burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...

agriculture have resulted in

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

and soil exhaustion, and

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

. Sierra Leone is party to several environmental agreements: *

Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

(Convention on Biological Diversity) *

Climate Change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

(United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) *

Desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...

(United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) *

Endangered Species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

(CITES) * Law of the Sea (UNCLOS or LOS) *

Marine Life Conservation The Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas is an agreement that was designed to solve through international cooperation the problems involved in the conservation of living resources of the high seas, consideri ...

(Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas) *

Nuclear Test Ban The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nations ...

(CTBT) *

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

(Wetlands) Signed, but not ratified: *

Environmental Modification The Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other hostile use ...

(ENMOD)

General information

Geographic coordinates: Land boundaries:
''total:'' 1,0938 km
''border countries:'' Guinea 794 km, Liberia 299 km Coastline: 402 km Maritime claims:
''territorial sea:'' .
''contiguous zone:'' .
''exclusive economic zone:'' .
''continental shelf:'' 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation. Climate: tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April) Terrain: coastal belt of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east Elevation extremes:
''lowest point:''

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 ...

0 m
''highest point:'' Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m Natural resources:

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

titanium ore 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 s ...

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The element magnesium can s ...

Land use:
''arable land:'' 24.4%
''permanent crops:'' 2.3%
''permanent pasture:'' 30.5%
''forest:'' 37.5%
''other:'' 6.3% (2011) Irrigated land: 300 km²; (2012) Total renewable water resources: 160 km³; (2011) Natural hazards: dry, sand-laden

harmattan The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into the ...

winds blow from the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

(December to February);

sandstorm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geography Of Sierra Leone