The Republic of Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa, south of Guinea and north of Liberia. The terrain varies considerably. Beaches and mangrove swamps along the coast rise past wooded hills just inland to a mountainous plateau in the interior. The 4.5 million people of Sierra Leone are divided into 19 ethnic groups speaking 19 separate languages. The most important groups are the Temne and the Mende, each roughly 30% of the population; and the Krio, descendants of returned slaves from the British Empire and the United States, 1% of the population, who have historically dominated the government and economy along with the small Lebanese community. Mining, especially of diamonds, is Sierra Leone's most important industry. But two thirds of the population lives off subsistence agriculture. The estimated per capita income of Sierra Leone is $107.
