Abstract
The Colony of Sierra Leone originated in 1787 when English settlers bought a piece of land intended as a home for natives of Africa who were waifs in London. The land was later used as a settlement for Africans rescued from slave-ships. The hinterland was declared a British protectorate on 21 Aug. 1896. Sierra Leone became independent as a member state of the British Commonwealth on 27 April 1961. In a general election in March 1967, Dr Siaka Stevens’ All People’s Congress came to power and was installed despite a military coup to prevent his taking office. Sierra Leone became a republic on 19 April 1971 with Dr Siaka Stevens as executive president. Following a referendum in June 1978, a new constitution was instituted under which the ruling All People’s Congress became the sole legal party.
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Further Reading
Binns, Margaret and J. Anthony, Sierra Leone. [Bibliography] ABC-Clio, Oxford and Santa Barbara (CA), 1992
Conteh-Morgan, E. and Dixon-Fyle, M., Sierra Leone at the End of the Twentieth Century: History, Politics, and Society. Peter Lang Publishing, Berne, 1999
Ferme, M., The Underneath of Things: Violence, History, and the Everyday in Sierra Leone. Univ. of California Press, 2001
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© 2003 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turner, B. (2003). Sierra Leone. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271326_259
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271326_259
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-43025-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-27132-6
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