50 free Sierra Leone trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Forty-four questions on Sierra Leone, the West African republic founded as a home for freed slaves. Geography covers Freetown on its mountainous peninsula, Africa's largest natural harbour, Mount Bintumani, Tiwai Island's pygmy hippos, the Lungi airport ferry and 400 km of Atlantic coast. History runs from Pedro de Sintra's 'lioness mountains' in 1462, Bunce Island's slave fort, the Black Poor of London and the Province of Freedom, the Nova Scotian settlers of 1792 and the Cotton Tree, Jamaican Maroons, Liberated Africans and the birth of Krio, Fourah Bay College, Bai Bureh's Hut Tax War, Milton Margai and independence in 1961, Siaka Stevens' one-party state, the RUF, blood diamonds and Executive Outcomes, Operation Palliser, the 2014 Ebola outbreak and the presidents since. Culture rounds cover Krio spoken by 97 percent, the Temne and Mende, three-quarters Muslim with famous tolerance, the leone, rice at every meal, poyo palm wine, the green-white-blue flag and the Leone Stars. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its capital, war and people, and the sentence that establishes it is quoted under each explanation. Suits a pub quiz, a West Africa lesson or anyone who has read 'A Long Way Gone'.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Sierra Leone borders Guinea and which other country?
Liberia
Liberia's civil war spilled over to ignite Sierra Leone's own conflict in 1991.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone?
Freetown
It sits on a mountainous coastal peninsula beside a vast sheltered estuary.
Q 03The country's name comes from a 1462 Portuguese name meaning what?
Lioness mountains
Pedro de Sintra called the hills near Freetown Serra Leoa; the modern spelling is Venetian, from Alvise Cadamosto.
Q 04The 1787 settlement founded by the British Crown for London's 'Black Poor' was called what?
The Province of Freedom
Of the 411 who sailed in April 1787, 96 died on the voyage; the settlement collapsed and Freetown was refounded in 1792.
Q 05The capital was founded in 1792 by Black Loyalists relocated from which Canadian province?
Nova Scotia
Nearly 1,200 crossed the Atlantic under Thomas Peters and John Clarkson's Sierra Leone Company; they had endured harsh winters and racism.
Q 06In 1792 the heads of the new colony's households were given the vote. What was notable about this?
A third of them were women
It foreshadowed British women's suffrage by over a century; settlers elected 'tithingmen' and other representatives.
Q 07Which 500-strong group was shipped from Jamaica via Canada in 1800 to crush a settler revolt?
Jamaican Maroons
Led by Colonel Montague James, they had been deported from Trelawny Town and stayed to become part of the Krio people.
Q 08What were the thousands of people freed from illegal slave ships and landed in Sierra Leone after 1807 called?
Liberated Africans or recaptives
Each was given a registration number; together with the settlers and Maroons they formed the Creole ethnicity.
Q 09Fourah Bay College, founded in 1827, holds what distinction?
Oldest university in West Africa
For over a century it was the only European-style university in sub-Saharan West Africa, earning Freetown the tag 'Athens of West Africa'.
Q 10Which Temne chief led the 1898 Hut Tax War against the British before surrendering in November?
Bai Bureh
Governor Cardew exiled him to the Gold Coast and hanged 96 of his warriors; Madam Yoko was the pro-British Mende paramount chief.
Q 11Sierra Leone gained independence from Britain on 27 April of which year?
1961
Sir Milton Margai became first prime minister; it stayed a dominion under the Queen until becoming a republic in 1971.
Q 12Which prime minister was ousted within hours of taking office in 1967 and made the APC the sole legal party in 1978?
Siaka Stevens
A counter-coup restored him in 1968; he retired in 1985 and handed over to General Joseph Saidu Momoh.
Q 13The rebel group that fought the government from 1991 to 2002 was the RUF. What did it stand for?
Revolutionary United Front
Founded by ex-corporal Foday Sankoh with help from across the Liberian border, it seized the diamond fields of the east.
Q 21Which two ethnic groups, each roughly a third of the population, dominate Sierra Leone?
Temne and Mende
The Temne lead in the north and the Mende in the southeast, and national politics runs along that axis.
Q 22Roughly what share of Sierra Leoneans are Muslim?
Three-quarters
Christians are about a fifth; the country is a secular state famed for religious tolerance, and Christmas and Eid are both national holidays.
Q 23In December 2002 Sierra Leone declared which surprising language an honorary official language?
Bengali
It was a thank-you to the Bangladeshi peacekeepers of the UN mission.
Q 14Which South African private military company was hired in 1995 to push back the RUF?
Executive Outcomes
Several hundred mercenaries helped retake the diamond districts; Sandline was later involved in a separate arms affair.
Q 15The 2000 British military intervention that helped end the war and secure the capital was codenamed what?
Operation Palliser
Backed by a renewed UN mandate and Guinean air support, it finally defeated the RUF; peace was declared in 2002.
Q 16Which Liberian leader was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for backing the RUF?
Charles Taylor
He was later convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and jailed in Britain.
Q 17The gems mined and sold to buy weapons during the war became known worldwide as what?
Blood diamonds
A UN-approved certification scheme in 2000 sharply increased legal exports; Sierra Leone remains a top-ten diamond producer.
Q 18Which mineral, a titanium ore, does Sierra Leone hold in some of the world's largest deposits?
Rutile
Diamonds, gold and iron ore round out the mining sector, long the main currency earner.
Q 19What is the country's currency?
The leone
It was redenominated in July 2022 at 1,000 old to one new; the Bank of Sierra Leone floats it freely.
Q 20Which language, spoken by almost every Sierra Leonean, is the country's lingua franca?
Krio
The English-based creole grew from the settler and Liberated African communities of Freetown; English remains the official language.
Q 24What are the three colours of Sierra Leone's flag, top to bottom?
Green, white, blue
Adopted at independence in 1961 to replace the Blue Ensign; the green is for agriculture and mountains, the blue for the harbour.
Q 25The historic Cotton Tree in the centre of the capital, a symbol of the city, is what species?
Kapok
Legend says the 1792 settlers prayed beneath it and that a slave market was once held in its shade.
Q 26What happened to the capital's Cotton Tree on the night of 24 May 2023?
Much of it toppled in heavy rain
One legend had warned that catastrophe would follow if the tree ever fell.
Q 27Bunce Island near the capital was a British slave fort that shipped captives mainly to which region?
The Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry
Planters there prized rice-growing skills; the Gullah people of the Sea Islands trace roots to Sierra Leone.
Q 28What is the highest point in Sierra Leone, at 1,948 metres?
Mount Bintumani
It rises in the Loma Mountains of the east; the Moa River's upper basin lies in the same region.
Q 29Sierra Leone claims Africa's largest what, next to the capital?
Natural harbour
Ships use the Queen Elizabeth II Quay at Cline Town; there are 800 km of inland waterways.
Q 30Before any estuary bridge was built, how did most passengers reach the capital from Lungi airport?
By ferry across the estuary
A bridge across the estuary was planned for completion by the end of 2027; until then the ferry crossing was the usual route.