Sierra Leone

=== Early history ===

[[File:Prehistoric pottery shards, Sierra Leone.jpg|thumb|Fragments of [[prehistoric]] [[pottery]] from [[Kamabai]] Rock Shelter]]

[[File: Bunce Island 1805.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bunce Island]], 1805, during the period the slave factory was run by [[Sir John Anderson, 1st Baronet, of Mill Hill|John]] and [[Alexander Anderson (slave trader)|Alexander Anderson]]]]

[[File: slaves sierra leone.jpg|thumb|An 1835 illustration of liberated Africans arriving in Sierra Leone]]

[[File:Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p.55) - Copy.jpg|thumb|Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55)<ref name="Juvenile1853">{{cite journal|title=Houses at Sierra-Leone|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=May 1853|volume=X|page=55|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|access-date=29 February 2016}}</ref>]]

Sierra Leone's history is marked by continuous human habitation for at least 2,500 years,<ref name="Culture of Sierra Leone">{{cite web|url=http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Sierra-Leone.html|title=Culture of Sierra Leone|author=Countries and Their Cultures|access-date=22 February 2008}}</ref> influenced by migrations from across Africa.<ref name="Sierra Leone History">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-55344/Sierra-Leone|title=Sierra Leone History|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=19 February 2008}}</ref> The adoption of iron technology by the ninth century and the establishment of agriculture by 1000 AD along the coast.<ref name="Sierra Leone - History">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Sierra-Leone-HISTORY.html|title=Sierra Leone – History|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Nations|access-date=22 February 2008}}</ref> Climate shifts over centuries altered the ecological zones, influencing migration and conquest dynamics.<ref name="brooks"/>

The region's dense [[tropical rainforest]] and swamps, coupled with the presence of the [[tsetse fly]] which carried a disease fatal to horses and the [[zebu]] cattle used by the [[Mande people|Mandé people]], provided natural defenses against invasions by the [[Mandinka Empire]] and other African empires,<ref name="brooks">{{Cite journal |last=Fyfe |first=Christopher |date=July 1995 |title=Weighing the Probabilities - Landlords and Strangers: Ecology, Society and Trade in Western Africa, 1000–1630. By George E. Brooks. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. Pp. xvi + 360. £14.95, paperback (ISBN 0-8133-1263-9). |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/weighing-the-probabilities-landlords-and-strangers-ecology-society-and-trade-in-western-africa-10001630-by-george-e-brooks-boulder-westview-press-1994-pp-xvi-360-1495-paperback-isbn-0813312639/2F429B373D4D68546604D51858920ADF |journal=The Journal of African History |language=en |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=319–320 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700034174 |issn=1469-5138}}</ref><ref name="protected from influence">[[#Utting|Utting]] (1931), p. 33.</ref> and limited influence by the [[Mali Empire]], preserving its indigenous cultures from external dominions. The introduction of [[Islam]] by [[Susu people|Susu]] traders, merchants and migrants in the 18th century further enriched the cultural tapestry, eventually establishing a strong foothold in the north. The later conquest by [[Samory Touré]] in the northeast solidified Islam among the [[Yalunka people|Yalunka]], [[Kuranko]] and [[Limba people (Sierra Leone)|Limba]] people.<ref name="rainforest">
[[Sierra Leone#Utting|Utting]] (1931), p. 8.</ref><!--Expand this section to tell about the culture of indigenous peoples and how and why they became Muslim. Also, describe paramount chiefs, the tribal organisation as they influenced colonial and early national history-->