General Information
Geographic coordinates: 8°30′N 11°30′W / 8.5°N 11.5°W / 8.5; -11.5
Land boundaries:
total: 958 km
border countries: Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km
Coastline: 402 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi).
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation.
Terrain: coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east.
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m
Natural resources: diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite.
Land use:
arable land: 7.95%
permanent crops: 1.05%
other: 91% (2005)
Irrigated land: 300 km²; (2003)
Natural hazards: dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); dust storms.
Environment issues: rapid population growth pressuring the environment; overharvesting of timber, expansion of cattle grazing and slash and burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion; civil war depleting natural resources; overfishing.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Sierra Leone
Famous quotes containing the words general and/or information:
“The general fact is that the most effective way of utilizing human energy is through an organized rivalry, which by specialization and social control is, at the same time, organized co-operation.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“I have all my life been on my guard against the information conveyed by the sense of hearing—it being one of my earliest observations, the universal inclination of humankind is to be led by the ears, and I am sometimes apt to imagine that they are given to men as they are to pitchers, purposely that they may be carried about by them.”
—Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)