什么是狮子山

正式名称狮子山共和国（Republic of Sierra Leone）

非洲西部国家。面积71,740平方公里。人口5,427,000（2001）。首都︰自由城。狮子山约有十八个族群；其中以门德人和滕内人最多。语言︰英语（官方语）、克里奥尔语（衍生自英语和多种非语）。宗教︰伊斯兰教、传统的泛灵论宗教和基督教。货币︰利昂（Le）。狮子山全境分四个地理区：沿海沼泽地区；狮子山半岛为林木茂密的山区，从海岸沼泽地升起；内陆平原，包括草原和林木茂密起伏不平的丘陵；东部高原地区，包括数条山脉。森林占土地总面积的1/4以上。野生动物有黑猩猩、虎猫、鳄鱼以及多种鸟类。经济主要以农业和采矿业为基础。米、木薯、咖啡、可可和油棕榈为主要农作物。矿产有钻石、铁矿石和铝土矿。为军人政权统治，该政权於1997年中止宪法。国家元首暨政府首脑为总统。

最早的居民可能是布隆姆人。15世纪，门德人和滕内人到达狮子山。葡萄牙人於15世纪来到沿海地区，至1495年，在今自由城的所在地已有一个葡萄牙要塞。欧洲船只定期停泊在当地沿海，从事奴隶和象牙贸易。17世纪英国人在近海岛屿建立了贸易站。1787年，英国的废奴主义者和博爱主义者建立了自由城，作为获得自由和逃亡奴隶的立身之地。1896年，该地区成为英国保护地。1961年，获得独立。1971年成为共和国。20世纪後期为政治和经济混乱时期，发生几次军事政权力图独揽大权。联合国和平部队在此驻紮，但对阻止流血和暴力活动起不了作用。

Sierra Leone

Nation, western Africa. Area: 27,699 sq mi (71,740 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 4,424,000. Capital: Freetown. The Mende and Temne are the largest of about 18 ethnic groups. Languages: English (official), Krio (derived from English and a variety of African languages). Religions: Islam, traditional animist beliefs, Christianity. Currency: leone. Sierra Leone has four physical regions: the coastal swamp; the Sierra Leone Peninsula, with thickly wooded mountains that rise from the swamps; the interior plains, consisting of grasslands and rolling wooded country; and the eastern plateau region, encompassing several mountains. More than one-fourth of the country is forest. Wildlife includes chimpanzees, tigers, crocodiles, and many species of birds. The economy is based largely on agriculture and mining; rice, cassava, coffee, cacao, and oil palm are major crops, and diamonds, iron ore, and bauxite are mined. It is ruled by a military regime which suspended the constitution in 1997; its usual head of state and government is the president. Its earliest inhabitants were probably the Buloms; the Mende and Temne peoples arrived in the 15th century. The coastal region was visited by the Portuguese in the 15th century, and by 1495 there was a Portuguese fort on the site of modern Freetown. European ships visited the coast regularly to trade for slaves and ivory, and the English built trading posts on offshore islands in the 17th century. British abolitionists and philanthropists founded Freetown in 1787 as a private venture for freed and runaway slaves. In 1808 the coastal settlement became a British colony. The region became a British protectorate in 1896. It achieved independence in 1961 and became a republic in 1971. It was marked by political and economic turmoil in the late 20th century as successive military regimes tried to assume power. U.N. peacekeeping forces were stationed there, but were ineffectual in preventing bloodletting and atrocities.