Kambia, Sierra Leone
place in Northern Province, Sierra Leone
Kambia also commonly known as Kambia Town is the capital and largest town of Kambia District in the North West Province of Sierra Leone. Kambia is a major trading town; and lies approximately 120 miles north-east of Freetown. The town had a population of 11,842 in the 2004 census, with a 2010 estimate being 12,471 [link removed] and a current estimate of 40,000 [2] Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. Kambia is a major trading route along the main highway linking Sierra Leone's capital Freetown to Conakry, the capital of Guinea.
Kambia town is inhabited by different ethnic groups. The Krio language is the primary language of communication among the different ethnic groups in Kambia town. The town is predominantly Muslim.
History
Before the British and Portuguese arrived in Sierra Leone, a farmer/hunter named Pa Kambi settled on the banks of the river where Kambia lies today. As other natives from neighbouring locales wandered about, they discovered Pa Kambi thriving on his trades. They, too, decided to settle down and named the area Kambia, meaning the town of Pa Kambi.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kambia, Sierra Leone” is place in Northern Province, Sierra Leone. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kambia, Sierra and Leone, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “place in Northern Province, Sierra Leone” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1722889. VIAF identifies the subject as 151638311. The Library of Congress control number is no2006094611. Authority coordinates are 9.124, -12.918. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004, 2010 and 2014.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kambia, Sierra Leone”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kambia, Sierra Leone primary sources, Kambia, Sierra Leone archive and Kambia research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kambia, Sierra Leone”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kambia, Sierra Leone” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.