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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Sierra Leone
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Member of the *Commonwealth since 1961. The country, on the west coast of Africa, has an indigenous population in the interior while the descendants of many generations of immigrants live on the coast around the capital, Freetown. This was founded in 1787 by British opponents of the *slave trade, as a refuge for freed slaves – a purpose reflected also in the name of the neighbouring state to the south, Liberia, established by American abolitionists in the 1820s. Freetown was a crown colony from 1808. From 1951 it was administered with the interior as Sierra Leone, which became independent in 1961.
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