Bo, town, southern Sierra Leone, administrative center of Southern Province. It is the leading transportation, commercial, and educational center for the interior of Sierra Leone. Locally grown palm kernels and their derivatives are major items of trade. Bo began its modern development with the coming of the railroad in 1889 and became an educational center in 1906, when the Bo Government Secondary School was established here. Bo was the capital of the Protectorate of Sierra Leone (1930-1961). Population (1994 estimate) 269,000.
