Bullom

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The Bullom are an ethno-linguistic group that formerly occupied most of the coastal areas of Sierra Leone from the Bullom shore, north of the Sierra Leone River, to near the border with Liberia in the south-east. They have no traditions of migration and have therefore some claim to be considered the original inhabitants of the country and the producers of its oldest artefacts, the ancient stone sculptures that are found buried in the soil (refer to nomoli). Today, north of the Sierra Leone River, the Bullom language has largely been displaced by Temne. South of the river it survives mainly in the coastal chiefdoms adjacent to Sherbro Island and on Sherbro Island itself, and for that reason the southern Bullom are often referred to colloquially as Sherbro. Even in the south, however, the number of Bullom speakers (and speakers of Krim, its almost extinct relative) continues to shrink year by year as the Mende language expands its cultural and linguistic dominance in the area.

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