Gallinas River (Sierra Leone)
The Gallinas River in Sierra Leone reaches the Atlantic between Cape Saint Ann and Grand Cape Mount.
Strictly speaking, the Gallinas River is an archaic term for the Kerefe stream in modern Sierra Leone (7°0′52″N 11°37′29″W / 7.01444°N 11.62472°W), which lies a few miles west of the Moa River. However, it could be applied to any of many interconnected streams or channels into the marshy backwaters of this region. In the widest sense, the "Gallinas River" refers generally to the stretch of coast, covered by dense mangrove swamps, between the Kerefe and the Mano River.
The term comes from the Portuguese "Rio das Galinhas" (River of Hens), referring to Guinea fowl that were found by its banks. The first Portuguese explorer to reach the region was Pedro de Sintra in 1461 or 1462. The name "Rio das Galinhas" is found in Duarte Pacheco Pereira's Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (written c.1509). The term was later applied as an exonym to the inhabitants of the area, the Gallinas people, who dominated the coastal region between roughly the Waanji river to the west and the Mano River to the east.