Temne+and+Mende+Tribes

The Temne and Mende Tribes Composing over half of the tribal groups of Sierra Leone, the Temne and Mende tribes are the most prominent and important tribes in Sierra Leone. The Mende compose over 30% of Sierra Leone's total population, which is around 1,932,015 people, and are located primarily in the Southern and Eastern regions of Sierra Leone. The Mende can be ethnically linked to the larger group, the Mande, which spreads throughout Western Africa. They speak the Mende language. Unfortunately because of their location, hundreds of thousands of Mende people were captured and transported to America as slaves. Currently the Mende overwhelming dominate the politics of Sierra Leone. Their people support the Sierra Leone People's Party, which ruled the country in 2007. They are primarily farmers and hunters that have an intricate secret society for both men and women. The Temne people compose another 30% of the Sierra Leone population, which is also about 1.9 million people. They are located primarily where the Mende are not, in the Northern and Western regions of Sierra Leone. Similarly to the Mende, the Temne are farmers, but also fishermen and traders. Their culture, like the Mende's, revolves around secret societies for both the men and the women. The Temne were also subject to the slave trading business, with hundreds and thousands of their people being shipped to America, like the Mende. The current president of Sierra Leone is Ernest Bai Koroma, who is also the first Temne president of the country. The Temne overwhelmingly support the All Peoples Congress, which is the political party that opposes the Sierra Leone People's Party. The overwhelming majority of the Temne are Muslim, with just 10% of them being Christian. On the left is Ernest Koroma, the current president of Sierra Leone who is of the Temne tribe. On the left is Milton Margai who led Sierra Leone's rebellion against the British, he is from the Mende tribe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temne_people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mende_people http://worldgeography.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/160?cid=45