The Western Area or Freetown Peninsula (formerly the Colony of Sierra Leone) is one of five principal divisions 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 ...

. It comprises the oldest city and national capital

Freetown Freetown is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educ ...

and its surrounding

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

s and

countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are desc ...

. It covers an area of 557 km² and has a population of 1,447,271. The Western Area is located mostly around the

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 a ...

and is divided into two districts: the Western Area Rural and the Western Area Urban.

Geography

Western Area is the wealthiest region of Sierra Leone, having the largest economy, the country's financial and cultural center, as well as the seat of the country's national government. Unlike the other regions in Sierra Leone, the western area is not a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

. It is divided into two districts: * Western Area Rural * Western Area Urban Freetown serves as the administrative headquarters of both the Western Area and the Urban District, and served as the capital of the Rural District until 2009 when it was formally moved to the city of Waterloo.

Borders

To the northeast, the Western Area borders the North-Western Province, and to the southeast it borders the Southern Province. However, most of the boundaries of the Western Area is the shoreline 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 ...

. The Western Area is the only region of Sierra Leone without a foreign border.

Cities, towns and villages include

, largest city and national capital * Waterloo, second largest city and capital of the Western Area Rural District * Newton * Benguema *

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

* Tombo * Grafton * Adonkia * lakka * Tokeh * Kwama * Bureh Town * Grafton *

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

* Lakka * Tokeh * Kwama * Samuel Town * Kola Town * Joe Town *

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

* Bathurst * Baw Baw *

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

* Ricketts *

Fogbo Fogbo is a small coastal fishing town in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Fogbo is in close proximity to the town of Tombo, Sierra Leone, Tombo. The major industry in Fogbo is fishing and small scale farming. Tombo has an estimate ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

* Kerry Town *

Kebbie Town Kebbie Town is a village in the Rural District in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. It is located about nineteen miles east of Freetown and about 8 miles north of Waterloo. The main industry in Kebbie Town is farming and fishing. Kebbie Tow ...

Tissana Tissana is a coastal village near the city of Waterloo in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Tissana village is near the neighborhood village of Russell, Sierra Leone, Russell along the Freetown-Waterloo highway. The major economic ...

* Bathkump * Kossoh Town * Cole Town * Rokel * Rokupa * Russell *

Stones Town Stones Town is a village in the Rural District in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. Stones Town is about seventeen miles east of Freetown. The main economic activities in Stones Towns are farming and fishing. Virtually all of the people of Stone ...

Koya Koya may refer to: Places Iraq * Koya; ( ar, كيويسنجق), a town in Iraqi Kurdistan ** Koya University, a university in that town Japan * Mount Kōya, a mountain in Japan ** Kōya, Wakayama, a town on the top of Mount Kōya * Kōya Stati ...

* Bunce Island, an

island 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 isla ...

Banana Islands The Banana Islands are a group of islands that lie off the coast of Yawri Bay, south west of the Freetown Peninsula in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. Three islands make up the Banana Islands: Dublin, Banana Islands, Dublin and Ricketts a ...

, including ( Dublin Island and Ricketts Island).

Religion

References

External links