explorers arrived in the 1400s. In the
late 1700s and early 1800s the British
helped freed slaves settle on the coast.
The settlement became known as Freetown.
During the 1800s the British took
control of the area.
Sierra Leone gained independence from
Great Britain in 1961. From 1991 to
2002 rebel groups fought a war against
the government. The civil war forced
hundreds of thousands of people to
leave the country.
..More to explore
Freetown • Slavery
Facts About
SIERRA LEONE
Population
(2008 estimate)
5,969,000
Area
27,699 sq mi
(71,740 sq km)
Capital
Freetown
Form of
government
Republic
Major cities
Freetown, Koidu,
Makeni, Bo,
Kenema
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Sierra Leone 85
Sierra Nevada
The mountain range called the Sierra
Nevada has some of the highest peaks in
the United States. It runs along the eastern
edge of California. It also reaches
into western Nevada. Sierra Nevada is a
Spanish name that means “snowy
range.”
The Sierra Nevada is about 400 miles
(640 kilometers) long. Its highest peak is
Mount Whitney, at 14,494 feet (4,418
meters). Mount Whitney is the highest
mountain in the United States outside
of Alaska.
Winds from the west bring warm air
from the Pacific Ocean to the mountains.
The winds also carry a lot of moisture.
Most of the moisture falls as rain or
snow on the western slopes. The eastern
slopes are dry.
Evergreen forests on the western slopes
include cedars, pines, and firs. The bestknown
trees of the mountains are giant
sequoias. They are the largest trees in the
world. The dry eastern slopes have sagebrush,
juniper, and aspen.
Black bears and a few grizzly bears live
in the Sierra Nevada. Smaller mammals
of the mountain forests include American
badgers, bobcats, flying squirrels,
and golden beavers.
Native Americans once lived in the
Sierra Nevada. The first Europeans to
arrive were Spanish explorers and missionaries.
They visited in the 1700s. In
1848 settlers found gold nuggets in
mountain streams. That discovery
started the California gold rush. Fortune
seekers came to the area from all over
the world.
Today tourism is the most important
part of the region’s economy. Yosemite,
Kings Canyon, and Sequoia national
parks attract tourists with their beautiful
scenery. Lake Tahoe is also popular with
visitors.
#More to explore
California • Giant Sequoia • Mountain
Dawn reaches Mount Whitney in the Sierra
Nevada.
86 Sierra Nevada BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Sign Language
Through hand movements rather than
speech, people using sign language can
communicate their thoughts and feelings.
Around the world there are more
than 100 sign languages, which are
mainly used by deaf people. Most deaf
people in North America use American
Sign Language (ASL).
What Is Sign Language?
People using sign language make shapes,
called signs, with their hands and arms.
They also move their bodies and make
facial expressions. Signs can stand for
letters, words, or ideas. For example, to
make the sign for cat, ASL users hold
their hands up to their faces and “draw”
whiskers with their fingers.
Sign languages are unique languages.
ASL has different rules of grammar and
different slang than spoken English. ASL
is also different from other sign languages,
including British Sign Language
and Mexican Sign Language.
History
Throughout history both hearing and
deaf people have used some signs to
communicate. For example, babies
quickly learn to point at things they
want. Often people use a system of signs
to communicate with others who speak
different languages.
In the 1700s a priest in France taught
deaf children a system for spelling out
French words with hand gestures. The
system became French Sign Language.
In 1817 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
founded the first permanent school for
the deaf in the United States. He had
learned French Sign Language from a
teacher in France. Gallaudet taught his
students the French signs. ASL was
formed by combining Gallaudet’s teachings
with signs that deaf people already
used among themselves.
#More to explore
Deafness • Language
Sikhism
Sikhism is a religion of India that was
started by a man named Nanak. He was
the first of the 10 gurus, or teachers, of
the Sikhs. Most Sikhs live in the state of
Punjab in northwestern India.
Sikhs believe that there is one God. All
people are considered equal and have the
opportunity to become one with God.
Native
Americans
who could not
understand
each other’s
languages
used sign
language to
communicate.
A teacher uses sign language to
communicate with her hearing
impaired students.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Sikhism 87
But first they must overcome selfcenteredness
by honoring God, working
hard, and sharing with others.
Many Sikhs belong to the order called
the Khalsa. Members of the order avoid
alcohol, tobacco, and drugs and devote
themselves to prayer. The men carry
swords. They must not cut their hair or
beards and must cover their hair with a
headdress called a turban.
The main Sikh temple is the Harimandir,
or Golden Temple, in Punjab
state. The Sikh religious book is called
the Adi Granth (First Book). It contains
nearly 6,000 hymns, or songs praising
