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REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE

CONTINGENT: PEGLOMA Sierra Leone, Ltd.
                        Brooklyn, NY

Sierra Leone lies on the West Coast of Africa along the Atlantic Ocean. It was claimed to have been founded by a Portuguese sailor, named Pedro de Centre, and called it, Sierra Leone, meaning Lion Mountains, because of the formation of the mountains and hills he saw. How the British went in to be the colonial masters of this land instead of the Portuguese is another story. The name of the capital city of this nation is Freetown. When slave trade was abolished, most of these freed slaves were taken to this land, hence the name Freetown. There are 15 tribes in Sierra Leone. The official language is English and the common dialect is creole, which is a kind of broken English with a mixture of French, Portuguese, Spanish and Yoruba, brought over and spoken by the freed slaves. The group present is comprised of representatives of Sierra Leone living in New York. The actor Joseph Singh in the film "Amistad" was taken from Sierra Leone and his real name was Sengbeh Pich.