Lunsar is one of the largest cities of Port Loko District

Port Loko District

Port Loko District is the most populous district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone with a population of 489,488 Its capital is Port Loko and the largest city is Lunsar...

 in the Northern Province

Northern Province, Sierra Leone

The Northern Province is one of the four provincial divisions of Sierra Leone. It comprises five Districts and covers an area of 35,936 km² and with a population of 1,718,240 . Its administrative and economic center is Makeni...

 of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

. The population was 16,567 in the 2004 census , but a 2010 estimate is 23,889 http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&dat=32&geo=-3314&srt=npan&col=aohdq&pt=c&va=&geo=355300745. The town lies about 22 miles

Miles

Miles is the plural of mile.Miles may also refer to:- People :*Miles Brothers, American cinema pioneers* Miles ** Miles Browning, World War II admiral** Miles Davis, jazz trumpet player** Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver...

 (35 km) east of the district capital of Port Loko

Port Loko

Port Loko is the capital and second largest city of Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city lies about , as the crow flies, north-east of the nation's capital Freetown and had a population of 21,961 in the 2004 census Port Loko lies on Banka Soka River, which flows...

 and 65 miles (104 km) east of Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/245161.stm125 km. The population of Lunsar is almost entirely from the Temne ethnic group. The Temne language

Temne language

Temne is a language of the Atlantic subfamily of Niger–Congo languages spoken in Sierra Leone by about 2 million first speakers. One of the country's most widely spoken languages, it is spoken by 30% of the country’s population...

is widely spoken in the town.

History

Its most recent history has been an iron ore mining town. The ore, for the most part, is set in stone which forms a huge mountain, called Massaboin Hill. The word stone in the local Temne language is "Sar," and thus befits the area where the iron ore was found. Thus, the town's initial name was "Ro-Sar" meaning the place where the stones are found. Ro-sar later evolved to Lunsar during the colonial era.

External links

• World Gazetteer entry

External links

• MSN Map