Mineral exports provide more than half of the country's foreign exchange earnings. Furniture and cigarette making, brewing, petroleum refining, and flour and saw milling are the chief manufacturing industries. Small-scale industries include weaving and the curing and smoking of fish. Tourism grew as a significant source of revenue in the 1980s. The country's chief exports are rutile, bauxite, diamonds, cocoa, and coffee.
Major imports are machinery and transport equipment.
The country's transportation network includes a direct road link between Freetown and Monrovia, Liberia. There is an international airport at Lungi, near Freetown. The port of Freetown is one of the world's largest natural ports. During the 15th century the Mende and Tempe peoples moved to Sierra Leone. The country took its name from the mountains.