Sierra Leone is situated on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Guinea to the north, Liberia to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It was annexed in 1787, and settled first by former slaves who had fought for the British in the American Revolution and then later by others who had been freed from slave ships on their way to the Americas (the national capital is, appropriately, called Freetown). It formally became a colony in 1808, remaining under British rule until independence in 1961. In more recent years, the Country has suffered from internal strife but the warring parties are now laying down their arms and normality is returning.
