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Location:
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia
Population:
5,232,624 (July 2000 est.)
Ethnic groups:
20 native African tribes 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole 10% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-eighteenth century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians
Religions:
Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%
Languages:
English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)
Area:
total: 71,740 sq km
land: 71,620 sq km
water: 120 sq km
Natural resources:
diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite
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