Koinadugu District is a district in the Northern Province of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. It is the largest District in Sierra Leone in

geographical area The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various ...

, and one of the least most densely populated. Its

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

and largest city is Kabala, which is also one of the main cities in Northern Sierra Leone. The District of Koinadugu has a population of 404,097, based on the 2015 Sierra Leone national census; and has a total area of . Koinadugu District is subdivided into eleven

chiefdoms A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

. The District of Koinadugu borders

Bombali Bombali is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Makeni, which is also the largest city in the north. The Bombali district is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Bombali is one of the larg ...

on the west, Tonkolili District to the south-west,

Kono District Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Jaiama N ...

to the south, Falaba District to the east, and the Republic of Guinea to north east.

Diamond mining Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

is a major economic activity in the district, as well as agricultural production of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

, cacao, and

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

. The population of Koinadugu district is almost entirely made up of five main ethnic groups: the Kuranko, Mandingo, Fula, Limba, and Yalunka. These five ethnic groups are politically and culturally influential in Koinadugu District. Koinadugu District is overwhelmingly

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

majority at over 90% and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

dominates the religious and cultural practices in the district. There is also a small but significant minority

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

population in the district, and is mainly among the Limba people in the district.

Government

The District of Koinadugu is governed with a district council form of government, which is headed by a District Council Chairman, who is responsible for the general management of the district and for seeing that all local laws are enforced. The District Council Chairman is elected directly by the residents of Koinadugu District. The Council Hall of Koinadugu District located in the district capital of Kabala. The current chairman of Koinadugu district council is Sheku Samuel Kamara of the All People's Congress (APC).

Administrative divisions

Chiefdoms

The district is made up of eleven

as the third level of administrative subdivision. # Dembelia Sikunia – Sikunia # Diang – Kondembaia # Folasaba – Musaia # Kasunko – Fadugu # Mongo – Bendugu # Neya – Krubola # Nieni – Yiffin # Sengbe – Yogomaia # Sulima –

Falaba {{Infobox settlement , official_name = Falaba , other_name = , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

# Wara-Wara Bafodea – Bafodea # Wara-Wara Yagala – Gbawuria

Demography

Koinadugu District is by far the largest district in Sierra Leone and with an estimated population of 265,765. The major ethnic groups in the district are the Fula (who predominate in the district's largest city of Kabala), Kuranko (who predominate in the chiefdoms), Mandingo and Limba and Yalunka (predominant in Musaia and Falaba areas bordering the republic of Guinea (Conakry)).

Religion

Members of Parliament

Koinadugu District currently has 7 Representatives in the

Parliament of Sierra Leone Parliament of Sierra Leone is the legislative branch of the government of Sierra Leone. It is principally responsible for making laws. The Sierra Leone parliament consists of 146 members, of which 132 members are directly elected from across Si ...

, of which one member wasn't elected to a 5-year term.

Economy

Gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

is a major economic activity in the district, as well as agricultural productivity such as rice, mango, beans, cattle rearing, to name but few.

Villages

* Kobaia

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20120518010418/http://news.sl/drwebsite/exec/view.cgi?archive=6&num=16694 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110817161321/http://handokotantra.net/local-councils-a-pivotal-but-disappointing-role-in-sierra-leones-socio-political-and-economic-development-debate.html *http://www.daco-sl.org/encyclopedia/7_lib/7_2g_ku.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20070121122533/http://www.statehouse-sl.org/member-parliament.html
"The fight to save the last Ebola-free district in Sierra Leone" by Todd C. Frankel
''Washington Post'', October 10, 2014 {{Koinadugu District Districts of Sierra Leone Northern Province, Sierra Leone