Sierra Leone
Formal name:
Republic of Sierra Leone
Capital:
Freetown Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)
Language:
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%)
Population:
5,363,669 (July 2011 est.)
Currency:
Leone (SLL)
Telephone Code:
232
Internet Code:
.sl