Tonkolili District is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

in the Northern 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 , Sierr ...

. Its capital and largest city is Magburaka. The other major towns include Masingbi, Yele, Mile 91,

Bumbuna Bumbuna is a town in the central of Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The town lies about 30 miles from the district capital of Magburaka and approximately 124 miles (by road) northeast of Freetown. The areas in and ar ...

Yonibana Yonibana is a small rural town in Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It is the centre of the Yoni Chiefdom The vast majority of its population are from the Temne ethnic group and the Temne language is widely spoken i ...

Matotoka Matotoka is a town in Tane Chiefdom, Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Matotoka lies approximately 165 miles east of Freetown, on the highway linking Makeni to Kono District, and marks the point where the highway det ...

. Mathora, Magbass and Masanga. Tonkolili District is home to the largest

sugar factory A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...

in Sierra Leone, and one of the largest sugar factories in West Africa, that is located in the town of Magbass. Tonkolili District had a population of 530,776. The district occupies a total area of and comprises eleven

chiefdom 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 ...

s. Tonkolili District borders Bombali District to the northwest,

Kono District Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Jaiama N ...

to the east,

Kenema District Kenema District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital city, capital and largest city is Kenema, which is the third most populous city in Sierra Leone, after Freetown and Bo. Tongo is the second most populous city ...

and Bo District to the southeast, Port Loko and Koinadugu Districts. Tonkolili is strategically located in the center of Sierra Leone. The district is criss crossed by many rivers including the Pampana River and Sierra Leone's longest river, the Rokel. The

Temne people The Temne, also called Atemne, Témené, Temné, Téminè, Temeni, Thaimne, Themne, Thimni, Timené, Timné, Timmani, or Timni, are a West African ethnic group, They are predominantly found in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone.

make up the overwhelming majority of the population of Tonkolili District. The vast majority of the population of Tonkolili District are

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 Abrah ...

Demographics

The population is mostly

Muslim 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 Abrah ...

and the people are largely from the Temne ethnic group. .

Economy

Economically, there is significant potential for an extractive economy, specifically the mining of iron ore, bauxite

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 ...

and to a lesser extent

diamond Diamond is a 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 chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

s. Today the biggest iron ore deposit in Africa and the third largest in the world, African Minerals Tonkolili Project, are found in the hills around Bumbuna, Mabonto and Bendugu. Agriculture also plays a significant role in the economy, the biggest bio energy company in Africa, Addax Petroleum, operates mostly in Mar in constituency 60. There is also a significant agricultural activity at the Magbass sugar production facility and refinery run by

Complant China National Complete Plant Import Export Corporation (Complant) is a Chinese company mainly involved in contracting and engineering in the domestic and international markets. In a 2013 ranking compiled by Engineering News-Record of revenue fro ...

, a Chinese construction engineering firm. A rubber factory is about to be established in the Mile 91 area. There are several hydroelectric power systems in the district, especially at

. There is also as

game reserve A game reserve (also known as a wildlife preserve or a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals live safely or are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; ...

at Mamunta. However, economic development was hindered by the destruction of facilities during the 1991-2002 civil war.

Echo Bar Industry

Due to the intense nature of the Sierra Leone climate, the Tonkolili District has always had a vast harvest of cocoa beans each year. In 2003, the Echo Bars Ltd. Company lead a private acquisition of 85% of all cocoa production in the district. The chief taster, Echo Mufasa, (not to be confused with Mr. Eko) led this purchase to reasonable success, increasing production and efficiency in most areas of the cocoa production in the district. In 2009, the company went into recession and the land was rebought by the local government.

Education

Before the civil war, education was highly esteemed, especially in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

. Since the end of the conflict, schools have been rebuilt to a large extent and even new ones created, including an Arabic college. , the district was home to 310 primary schools which had nearly 74,000 students. It was also home to 15 secondary schools.

Government

Tonkolili District currently has nine Representatives in the Sierra Leonean Parliament, of which eight members were elected for a 5-year term.

Administrative divisions

Chiefdoms

The district is made up of 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 ...

as the third level of administrative subdivision, with their administrative centres in parentheses listed below: # Gbonkolenken – Yele # Kafe Simiria – Mabonto # Kalansongoia –

# Kholifa Mabang – Mabang # Kholifa Rowalla – Magburaka # Kunike – Masingbi # Kunike Barina – Makali # Malal Mara – Rochin # Sambaia – Bendugu # Tane –

Yoni ''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with '' linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of mi ...

–

Mining

Tonkolili is the site of new iron ore mine, including a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

between the mine and Port Pepel. This railway to

Port Pepel Pepel is a coastal town in the Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Port Pepel has a port in the Sierra Leone River used for shipping bulk iron ore via the mining company African Minerals. Railway Pepel is conne ...

with an extension to deeper waters at

Tagrin Point Tagrin Point is the proposed location of a deep water port to replace the older and shallower port of Port Pepel in Sierra Leone. It would be connected to existing and new iron ore mined by an upgraded railway line converted to standard gauge. ...

would be about 200 km long. While built by the African Minerals company, the railway would be

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

to other users at commercial rates.

Railways Africa ''Railways Africa'' is a publication covering railways in Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) i ...

September 2009 There is also a large deposit at

Kasafoni Kasafoni is a town in northeastern Sierra Leone in the mountainous area near the Guinea border. Mining The area is prospective for iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ore ...

References

External links

Tonkolili District Council

{{Districts of Sierra Leone Districts of Sierra Leone Northern Province, Sierra Leone