LIBERIA WAS FOUNDED BY AMERICAN SLAVES IN 1847
Liberia is a country in West Africa founded by free people of color from the United States. The emigration of African Americans, both free and recently emancipated, was funded and organized by the American Colonization Society (ACS). The mortality rate of these settlers was the highest among settlements reported with modern recordkeeping. Of the 4,571 emigrants who arrived in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only 1,819 survived (39.8%).
In 1846, the first black governor of Liberia, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, requested the Liberian legislature to declare independence, but in a manner that would allow them to maintain contacts with the ACS. The legislature called for a referendum, in which Liberians chose independence. On July 26, 1847, a group of eleven signatories declared Liberia an independent nation. The ACS as well as several northern state governments and local colonization chapters continued to provide money and emigrants as late as the 1870s. The United States government declined to act upon requests from the ACS to make Liberia an American colony or to establish a formal protectorate over Liberia, but it did exercise a “moral protectorate” over Liberia, intervening when threats manifested towards Liberian territorial expansion or sovereignty. Upon Liberian independence, Roberts was elected as the first president of Liberia.
Liberia retained its independence throughout the Scramble for Africa by European colonial powers during the late 19th century, while remaining in the American sphere of influence. President William Howard Taft made American support to Liberia a priority of his foreign policy. From the 1920s, the economy focused on exploitation of natural resources. The rubber industry, specifically the Firestone Company, dominated the economy. Until 1980, Liberia was controlled politically by descendants of the original African-American settlers, known collectively as Americo-Liberians, who consisted of a small minority of the population. The violent overthrow of the Americo-Liberian regime that year led to two civil wars that devastated the country, the first from 1989 to 1997 and the second from 1999 to 2003. Excerpt from Wikipedia
- Country Name: Republic of Liberia
- Capital: Monrovia
- Independence: July 26, 1847
- Government Type: Republic (Legislative, Executive & Judicial Branch)
- Legal System: Dual system of statutory law based on Anglo-American common law for the modern sector, and customary law based on unwritten tribal practices, for the indigenous sector.
THE LIBERIAN FLAG
The Liberia’s national flag is called “LONE STAR”. The eleven horizontal stripes represent the eleven signers of the declaration of independence, and the constitution of the Republic of Liberia; the blue field symbolizes the continent of Africa; the five pointed white star depicts Liberia as the first “independent republic” on the continent of Africa; the red color designates “valor”, the white, “purity”;
and the blue, “fidelity”. Although these representations are uniquely Liberian, the flag itself is a replica of “Old Glory”, the national flag
of the United States.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY: THE FOUNDER OF CURRENT DAY LIBERIA
The American Colonization Society, organized on December 1816 – January 1817, in Washington D.C., to transport free blacks from the United States, and settle them in Africa. The freeing of many slaves, principally by idealists, created a serious problem. No sound provisions were made for establishing the freed slaves in society, on an equal basis with white Americans, anywhere in the United States. Robert Finley, principle founder of the colonization society, found much support among prominent men, notable Henry Clay.
Money was raised, with some indirect help from the federal government, when (1819) Congress appropriated $100,000 to return African blacks that were illegally brought to the United States. In 1821, an agent, Eli Ayers, and Lt. R.F. Stockton of the U.S. Navy, purchased land in Africa, where, subsequently, Jehudi Ashmun, and Ralph R. Gurley laid the foundation of Liberia. More than 11,000 blacks were transported to Liberia before 1860.
From 1865, until its dissolution in 1912, the society was a sort of trustee for Liberia.
Beginning in 1989, Liberia was plagued by years of civil unrest. In 1987, Charles Taylor, and his National Patriotic Party (NPP), won the elections. The years of civil turmoil have been very disruptive to Liberia’s growth, and the country was faced with the challenging task of rebuilding societal, and economic structures ravaged by the war.
After 14 1/2 years of civil war, Liberia held the presidential election in October 2005. Harvard educated, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, was elected as Liberia’s 23rd President in a runoff election with Mr. George Weah, an international soccer star. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)m which maintains a strong presence throughout the country with over 15,000 troops, completed a disarmament program for former combatants in late 2004, but the security situation is still volatile, and the process of rebuilding the social, and economic structure remains sluggish.
TERRAIN
Mostly flat, with rolling coastal plains, rising to rolling plateaus, and low mountains in the northeast.
- Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean, 0 m
- Highest point: Mount Wuteve, 1,380 m
NATURAL RESOURCES
Iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold, hydropower, rubber, coffee, cocoa, and cotton.
GEOGRAPHY-NOTE
Facing the Atlantic Ocean, the coastline is characterized by lagoons, mangrove swamps, and river-deposited sandbars; the inland grassy plateau supports limited agriculture.