“High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free”, is the national anthem of a rich and diverse country named Sierra Leone (“Sierra Leone”, 2013). Many believe that the names of capital cities or specific emblems always have a meaning behind them, and that is the case for this country in particular. Although the country as a whole has suffered detrimental set backs in their economics system due to civil war, violence, and enclave production; there still exists a strong Sierra Leonean people and culture full of hope for a brighter future.
Portuguese navigators were the first to explore the land of Sierra Leone back in 1462 (“Sierra Leone”, 2013). Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa with the Atlantic Ocean providing a coastline of about 300miles (“Sierra Leone Embassy”, 2013). There are currently about seventeen ethnic groups and about twenty different languages (Kanu, A,C. 2000; Sierra Leone Embassy 2013). The ex-slaves, “little by little created a common language, a modified English known as Krio (Creole in English)…”
(Davidson,1992 p.25). Languages differ depending on the tribe one is from; within the various tribes dialects and languages spoken or combined vary (Kanu, A,C. 2000; Sierra Leone Embassy 2013).
According to the International Labor Organization, “Sierra Leone has Mangrove Swamps that lie along the coast, hills and mountain plateau near the eastern part of the country, and on the west it encompasses as a Peninsula on which the Capital Freetown is located; is 24 miles long and 10 miles wide” (2013). In fact “Freetown sits on the coastal peninsula which is next to the worlds third largest natural harbor, Sierra Leone harbor” (“Sierra Leone Embassy”, 2013). Sierra Leone has a interesting and unique climate. There...
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Being located in the west coast of Africa and between Guinea and Liberia, “Sierra Leone has an abundance of easily extractable diamonds”(BBC News). The diamonds had brought “encouragement” for violence in the country in 1991. Attacks of the Revolutionary “United Front (RUF) ,led by former army corporal Foday Sankoh”(Encyclopedia Britannica), were on government military and civilians. In response to a corrupt government, the RUF performed violent and terrorist acts that scarred many. “The RUF captured civilians and forced them to work”(Analyzing the Causes) in their army to gain control over Sierra Leone. The savages went a...
Print. The. The “Sierra Leone Profile.” BBC News: Africa.
During the 1900’s two deadly wars were raging on, the civil war in Sierra Leone and the genocide in Rwanda. The civil war in Sierra Leone began in March 1991, while the genocide began in 1994. Combined these two wars killed upward of 1,050,000 people, and affected the lives of all the people that lived there. The conflicts in Sierra Leone and Rwanda occurred for different major reasons, but many little aspects were similar. Politics and Ethnicity were the two main conflicts, but despite the different moments rebellions and the murder of innocent people occurred in both places.
War-ravaged Sierra Leone had trouble maintaining order, many still unclear what type of government they were living by. For years, the government of Sierra Leone had “made repeated commitments to...
In the novel Segu, Maryse Conde beautifully constructs personal and in depth images of African history through the use of four main characters that depict the struggles and importance of family in what is now present day Mali. These four characters and also brothers, by the names of Tiekoro, Siga, Naba, and Malobali are faced with a world changing around their beloved city of Bambara with new customs of the Islamic religion and the developing ideas of European commerce and slave trade. These new expansions in Africa become stepping stones for the Troare brothers to face head on and they have brought both victory and heartache for them and their family. These four characters are centralized throughout this novel because they provide the reader with an inside account of what life is like during a time where traditional Africa begins to change due to the forceful injection of conquering settlers and religions. This creates a split between family members, a mixing of cultures, and the loss of one’s traditions in the Bambara society which is a reflection of the (WHAT ARE SOME CHANGES) changes that occur in societies across the world.
...e, Geneviève, and Armin Schwegler. Creoles, Contact, and Language Change: Linguistics and Social Implications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub., 2004. Print.
Afrocentricity, as defined by Asante, is a “consciousness, quality of thought, mode of analysis, and actionable perspective where Africans seek, from agency, to assert subject place within the context of African history” (Asante 16). In essence, all roads converge and diverge with the African continent, with its rich history of pioneering triumphs and profound tribulations; Africa and all of her descendants are the end all, be all of one’s focus. There are five criteria to Afrocentricity: “(1) An interest in psychological location; (2) a commitment to finding the African subject place; (3) the defense of African cultural elements; (4) a commitment to lexical refinement; (5) a commitment to correct the dislocations in the ...
Uganda, formally known as the Republic of Uganda, is a poverty stricken country plagued with economic instabilities. Since the 1980’s, the economy has remained on a fairly steady climb, but many have doubts about the continuation of growth. Uganda will never achieve a stable economy if they do not establish changes to their infrastructure. To implement these modifications and maintain economic progression, Uganda will need 1) better government determination to end corruption, 2) commitment to improve the weak educational reforms, and 3) a decrease in their export vulnerabilities. Fortunately, the country is experiencing a much needed evolution in telecommunication which could be the single most contributing factor for an improved economy.
The impact that the geography, history and economic situation in the country has had on the sociolinguistics of the country is of great importance, and as such it is unavoidable to include the history of Haiti, Haitian people, as well as Haitian Creole in this essay. Here it will be attempted to describe the implications that the history, political turmoil and economical situation have had on the use and status of Haitian Creole today.
Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International attention on the colony except for short times, the widespread economic exploitation of the rubber resources of the region, and the brutal mistreatment and near-genocide of the Congolese by those in charge of rubber collecting.
The Portuguese arrived in Benin, in modern Nigeria, between 1472 and 1486 to find an established and ancient kingdom with remarkable social and ritual complexity, with art that was comparatively naturalistic, and with a political system that was, on the surface, recognizable to the Europeans: monarchy. Even more importantly, they found a land rich in pepper, cloth, ivory, and slaves, and immediately set out to establish trade (Ben-Amos 35-6). Though we often imagine "first contacts" between Europeans and Africans as clashes of epochal proportions, leaving Europeans free to manipulate and coerce the flabbergasted and paralyzed Africans, this misjudges the resilience and indeed, preparedness, of the Benin people. The Benin were able to draw on their cultural, political, and religious traditions to fit the European arrival in an understandable context. Indeed, as the great brass plaques of the Benin palace demonstrate, the arrival was in fact manipulated by the Benin to strengthen, not diminish, indigenous royal power.
Gaining their independence in October 1962, Uganda shares borders with Sudan in the north, Kenya to the east, Tanzania and Rwanda to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. There exists a wide variety of flora and fauna in the region with rainforests, vegetation is heaviest in the south and typically becomes wooded savanna in central and northern Uganda. Dry acacia woodland, dotted with the occasional candelabra and euphorbia and interspersed with grassland, occurs in the south. The steppes and thickets of the northeast represent the driest regions of Uganda (Uganda 2010). In the Lake Victoria region and the western highlands, forest covering has been replaced by elephant grass and forest remnants because of human incursions. The medium-elevation forests contain a rich variety of species. The high-elevation forests of Mount Elgon ...
“Situated at the geographical heart of the African continent, Uganda has long been a cultural melting pot, as evidenced by the existence of 30-plus different indigenous languages belonging to five distinct linguistic groups, and an equally diverse cultural mosaic of music, art, and handicrafts.”(“People and Culture.” Welcome to The Pearl of Africa: official tourism guide from the Uganda Tourism Board”) From its wide variety of different cultures to its mosaic of arts and music, Uganda is still known as the “Pearl of Africa”. Despite the beauty of Uganda, the country faces many problems such as disease, crime, and recovering from inhumane dictatorship. Sadly, many of these problems come from spiritual darkness in the people. Missionary efforts to Uganda will succeed with a greater understanding of its religious history, an awareness of the current religious state, and an increased focus on evangelizing to the lost.
Yoruba is one of many tribes located in Africa and is one of the largest ethno- linguistic groups. Majority of the native people of Yoruba are a part of Southwestern Nigeria and Benin. However, a great percentage of Yoruba is populated by modern day Nigeria. Moreover, the Yoruba culture was an oral tradition, and majority of the people were native speakers of the Yoruba language. The native name of the Yoruba language is ‘Ede Yoruba’. The language originated through the Yoruba people because they were believed to be descendants of Oduduwa. Oduduwa, was the son of a powerful God named Oludumare. And the Yoruba people referred to themselves as ‘Omo Oduduwa’ meaning Oduduwa’s children. The Yoruba language is the pride of the Yoruba people and over 22 million people speak it. The Yoruba language had been spoken within other languages in neighboring countries such as Benin and Togo. Other traces of the Yoruba language has been spoken in Sierra Leone, where it’s referred to as “Oku” and Cuba known as “Nago”.
Creole languages are found all over the world on every continent. When two or more languages come into contact to form a new language a Creole language is born. Some type of human "upheaval" that forces people to find a way to communicate, without using their own languages, stimulates the creation of a Creole language. In the case of Creole languages in the Caribbean, the "upheaval" is the past history of slavery. Most Creole languages are based on one language. In Jamaica the African slaves were thrown into a situation where the only common means of communication was English, or at least broken English, therefor Jamaican Creole has a majority of its roots in English (Sebba 1, 1996). Essential words which people could not find an English name for, such as people, things (like plants and animals) and activities (especially religious ones) were taken from a variety of West African languages.