Lunsar is a town in
Marampa Chiefdom
Marampa Chiefdom is a chiefdom in Port Loko District of Sierra Leone. Its capital is Lunsar
Lunsar is a town in Marampa Chiefdom, Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It is the largest town in Port Loko District by popu ...
,
Port Loko District
Port Loko District is a Districts of Sierra Leone, district in the North West Province, Sierra Leone, North West Province of Sierra Leone. It is the most populous District in the North and the second most populous District in Sierra Leone, after t ...
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 , Sierra ...
.
It is the largest town in Port Loko District by population. The Britannica estimate of the population of Lunsar is 36,1
The town is one of the main commercial and business hub in the North of Sierra Leone. Lunsar lies approximately 50
miles east of
Freetown
Freetown is the 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, educational and p ...
and about 18 miles south-east of the district
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
of
Port Loko
The inhabitants of Lunsar are largely from the
Temne ethnic group.
History
Its most recent history has been an iron ore mining town. The ore, for the most part, is set in stone which forms a huge mountain, called Massaboin Hill. The word stone in the local
Temne language
Temne (also ''Themne, Timne''; ) is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West Afric ...
is "Sar," and thus befits the area where the iron ore was found. Thus, the town's initial name was "Ro-Sar" meaning the place where the stones are found. Ro-sar later evolved to Lunsar during the
colonial era.
Sports & culture
Lunsar is the home to Sierra Leone's largest cycling team, the Lunsar Cycling Team. The team has run the Tour de Lunsar, the country's largest cycle race, annually since 2016. In 2019, two riders from the town, Osman T. Kalokoh and Ibrahim Jalloh, represented Sierra Leone on the national cycling team at the .
In 2022, Fatima Deborah Conteh who raced for Lunsar Cycling Team, was offered a professional cycling contract by
Canyon / SRAM Generation, making her the first Sierra Leonean to be given a pro contract.
See also
*
Railway stations in Sierra Leone
Railway stations in Sierra Leone include:
Maps
The MSN and FallingRain and UNHCR maps still show the railway lines closed in 1974.
UN Map of Sierra Leone - no railways shown at all.UNHCR Atlas map* Map on page 24.
African Mineral iron ore ra ...
References
External links
*
Populated places in Sierra Leone
{{SierraLeone-geo-stub