Port Loko is the

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 fo ...

Port Loko District Port Loko District is a district in the 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 the Western Area Urban District. As of the 2015 census, Port L ...

and since 2017 the

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 ...

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 ...

. The city had a population of 21,961 in the 2004 census and current estimate of 44,900. Port Loko lies approximately 36

miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

north-east of

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 ...

. The area in and around Port Loko is a major

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 ...

mining and trade centre. The town lies on the main

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

linking Freetown to

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 ...

's capital

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

. It also lies on the over-land highway between Freetown and its major airport,

Lungi International Airport Freetown International Airport (officially), locally known as Lungi International Airport, is an international airport located in the coastal town of Lungi, Sierra Leone. It is the only international airport in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Ri ...

, although most travellers complete this journey via the much shorter ferry or helicopter transit. The population of Port Loko is diverse, though the Temne is the largest ethnic group. Although the

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 Af ...

is spoken alongside, the Krio language of the

Sierra Leone Creole people The Sierra Leone Creole people ( kri, Krio people) are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of ...

is by far the most widely spoken in the town. Port Loko is home to the Port Loko Teacher's College, one of the oldest and best known colleges in Sierra Leone. Port Loko has its own local radio station called Radio Bankasoka. Port Loko has its own professional football club named the

Bai Bureh Warriors The Bai Bureh Warriors of Port Loko commonly known as Bai Bureh Warriors is a Sierra Leonean professional Association football, football (soccer) club based in Port Loko, Port Loko District, Sierra Leone. The club is currently playing in the Si ...

of Port Loko, which is one of the oldest and most famous football clubs in Sierra Leone. The club currently plays in the

Sierra Leone National First Division Sierra Leone National First Division is the second highest football league in Sierra Leone, after the Sierra Leone National Premier League Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in ...

, the second highest football league in Sierra Leone.

Geography

Port Loko lies on the

Bankasoka River The Bankasoka River is a river in Sierra Leone. As a tidal estuary (also called ''Port Loko Creek'') it combines with the Rokel River to the south to form the Sierra Leone River.West Africa Topographical Maps, Series N504, 1:250,000, U.S. Army Map ...

estuary, at about the limit of tidal effects.

History

Inspecting waste to wealth project in Port loko

Port Loko gets its name from the

Loko people The Loko ( IPA: Lɔkɔ) are one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. Landogo is used as an endonym for the people and language, but other groups refer to them as Loko. They speak a Southwestern Mande language that is also called ...

. The town was established by Portuguese merchants. However, the Temne people subsequently came to dominate the area.

Ethnicity

The population of Port Loko is ethnically diverse, although the Temne ethnic group predominate, and the

is widely spoken among the people of Port Loko, along with Krio, the

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

of Sierra Leone.

Sport

Port Loko has a football club named the

. The club currently plays in the

Sierra Leone National Premier Division Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

, the highest football league in Sierra Leone, after they were recently promoted to the top division.

Education

Like the rest of Sierra Leone, Port Loko has an education system with six years of primary school (Class 1–6), and six years of secondary school (Form 1–6); secondary schools are further divided into Junior secondary school (Form 1–3) and Senior secondary school (Form 4–6). Primary schools usually start from ages 6 to 12, and secondary schools usually start from ages 13 to 18. Primary Education is free and compulsory in government-sponsored public schools. The Port Loko Teacher's College, one of the major colleges in Sierra Leone is located in the city.

Notable people from Port Loko

Sorie Ibrahim Koroma Sorie Ibrahim Koroma (April 14, 1927 – April 30, 1994) commonly known as S.I. Koroma was a Sierra Leonean politician, labor activist, and one of the founding members of the All People's Congress political party. He served as first Vice President ...

, Vice President of Sierra Leone from 1971 to 1986 * Ibrahim Kemoh Sesay, Sierra Leonean politician Alpha kahn (kanu), sierra leonean politician. Mamoud Tarawallie, sierra leonean politician. Emili Geogra, sierra leonean politician Abdul karim kamara, sierra leonean politician (old portloko)

Notes

External links

* Sierra Leone Encyclopedia
Port Loko District
* BBC News story
Port Loko success for Ecomog
(1999 story) * Many pictures and short movies made in Port Loko
Pictures and Movies
{{Authority control Populated places in Sierra Leone North West Province, Sierra Leone