Homeland of the People of Mende

They primarily occupy the southern and eastern parts of Sierra Leon and have a small group believed to reside in Liberia.. There are 3 different Mende sub-groups; the Kpa-Mende, Sewa Mende, and the Ko-Mende also known as Kolo Mende. They speak the Mende language and have a population roughly over 1.7 million in Sierra Leone alone and 1.8 million worldwide. Primarily religion is Islam and they also believe in native elements such as a supreme being, ancestral spirits, secret societies and witch finders; and that all humanistic and scientific power is passed down through secret societies. They live primarily in villages of 70 to 250 residents situated from 1.5 to 5 kilometers apart. Most of them engage in agriculture and animal domestication usually in their homes. Work is divided by gender with men attenting to heavy work like clearing land (usually use simple farm tools like hoes and machetes) and the women attend to cleaning and pounding crops harvested. Crops grown may include millet, cassava, yams, sesame. Palm nuts are harvested to produce oil raffia palms are tapped for palm wine.

a typical mende house

A mende family engaged in farming

Mende market place