Freetown

Freetown
View of Freetown
Freetown
Coordinates: 8°29′4″N 13°14′4″W / 8.48444°N 13.23444°W / 8.48444; -13.23444Coordinates: 8°29′4″N 13°14′4″W / 8.48444°N 13.23444°W / 8.48444; -13.23444
Country	Sierra Leone
Region	Western Area
District	Western Area Urban District
Founded	March 11, 1792
Government
• Type	City Council
• Mayor	Franklyn Bode Gibson (APC)
• Governing Body	Freetown City Council
Area
• Total	357 km2 (138 sq mi)
Elevation	26 m (85 ft)
Population (2015 census)
• Total	1,050,301
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre. The city proper had a population of 1,050,301 at the 2015 census.

The city's economy revolves largely around its harbor, which occupies a part of the estuary of the Sierra Leone River in one of the world's largest natural deep water harbors.

The population of Freetown is ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. The city is home to a significant population of virtually all of Sierra Leone's ethnic groups, with no single ethnic group forming a majority of the city's population. As in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone, the Krio language is Freetown's primary language of communication and is by far the most widely spoken language in the city.

The city of Freetown was founded on March 11, 1792 by Lieutenant John Clarkson and black ex-slaves and free people called the Nova Scotian Settlers, who were transported to Sierra Leone by the Sierra Leone Company in 1792. The city of Freetown was founded as a land for freed African American and West Indian slaves; and their descendants are known as the Creole people. Freetown is the oldest capital to be founded by African Americans, having been founded thirty years before Monrovia, Liberia.

The city of Freetown is locally governed by a directly elected city council municipality, known as the Freetown City Council, headed by a mayor. Members of the Freetown City Council and the Mayor are elected every four years. Since the establishment of the elected Freetown City Council in 1895 to present, all of the Mayors of Freetown have been members of the Krio ethnic group, except Abdul Rahman, an Oku Marabout and Siaka Stevens.