Liberia: Past and Present.
African Studies Center | Liberia Page. Liberia. Liberia country profile. 11 October 2013Last updated at 07:31 ET Liberia is Africa's oldest republic, but it became better known in the 1990s for its long-running, ruinous civil war and its role in a rebellion in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Although founded by freed American and Caribbean slaves, Liberia is mostly inhabited by indigenous Africans, with the slaves' descendants comprising 5% of the population.
The West African nation was relatively calm until 1980 when William Tolbert was overthrown by Sergeant Samuel Doe after food price riots. The coup marked the end of dominance by the minority Americo-Liberians, who had ruled since independence, but heralded a period of instability. By the late 1980s, arbitrary rule and economic collapse culminated in civil war when Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) militia overran much of the countryside, entering the capital in 1990. Mr Doe was executed. Continue reading the main story Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring. Liberia. More information about Liberia is available on the Liberia Page and from other Department of State publications and other sources listed at the end of this fact sheet. The United States established diplomatic relations with Liberia in 1864 following its independence from the American Colonization Society, an organization that resettled free African-Americans and freed slaves in Liberia.
A 1980 coup ended the one-party rule that dated from independence in 1847. From 1989 to 2003, the country saw civil war, misrule, and rebellion. Elections held in 2005 and 2011 were declared free and fair. U.S. assistance and engagement is critical to Liberia’s short-term stability and long-term development. National elections in 2011 drew broad participation from the electorate, and paved the way for a peaceful transition to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s second administration. U.S. Bilateral Economic Relations Liberia's Membership in International Organizations Bilateral Representation The current U.S. LIBERIA HISTORY. Map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, including the colony of Liberia / compiled chiefly from the surveys and observations of the late Rev. J. Ashmun ; J.H. Young, sc. Liberia. After the struggle for liberty in the American Revolution, free and enslaved African Americans faced continued hardship and inequality.
A number of white Americans, for a variety of reasons, joined them in their efforts to resolve this complex problem. One possible solution (advocated at a time when the assimilation of free blacks into American society seemed out of the question) was the complete separation of white and black Americans. Some voices called for the return of African Americans to the land of their forebears. 1815-1817 Black Colonization 1815- African-American Quaker and maritime entrepreneur Paul Cuffee (or Cuffe) financed and captained a successful voyage to Sierra Leone where he helped a small group of African-American immigrants establish themselves. Cuffee believed that African Americans could more easily "rise to be a people" in Africa than in America with its system of slavery and its legislated limits on black freedom. Return to top 1820-1847 From Colony to Republic.
Global Connections . Liberia . History. In September 1990, Doe was captured and tortured to death by another rebel group originally associated with Taylor, while fighting between the rebels and the Liberian army escalated into civil war. Entire villages were emptied as people fled. Soldiers, some of them still children, committed unspeakable atrocities, raping and murdering people of all ages, in what became one of the world's worst episodes of ethnic cleansing. Five years later, at a conference sponsored by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations and the United States, the European Union, and the Organization of African Unity, Charles Taylor agreed to a cease-fire and a timetable to demobilize and disarm his troops. In a climate hardly conducive to free movement and security of persons, he won a 1997 presidential election against 12 other candidates.
The bloodshed did slow considerably, but it has not ended. The end of the turmoil? Related links. View of Liberian History and Government. Liberia. Global Connections . Liberia . History. Liberia. The World Factbook. Total: 2,771 country comparison to the world: 2 by type: barge carrier 5, bulk carrier 662, cargo 143, carrier 2, chemical tanker 248, combination ore/oil 8, container 937, liquefied gas 92, passenger 2, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 526, refrigerated cargo 102, roll on/roll off 5, specialized tanker 10, vehicle carrier 27 foreign-owned: 2,581 (Angola 1, Argentina 1, Australia 1, Belgium 1, Bermuda 4, Brazil 20, Canada 2, Chile 9, China 4, Croatia 1, Cyprus 9, Denmark 8, Egypt 3, Germany 1185, Gibraltar 5, Greece 505, Hong Kong 48, India 8, Indonesia 4, Israel 34, Italy 47, Japan 110, Latvia 5, Lebanon 1, Monaco 8, Netherlands 31, Nigeria 4, Norway 38, Poland 13, Qatar 5, Romania 3, Russia 109, Saudi Arabia 20, Singapore 22, Slovenia 7, South Korea 2, Sweden 12, Switzerland 25, Syria 1, Taiwan 94, Turkey 16, UAE 37, UK 32, UK 22, Ukraine 10, Uruguay 1, US 53) (2010)
American Colonization Society. The American Colonization Society (ACS; in full, "The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America"), established in 1817 by Robert Finley of New Jersey, was the primary vehicle to support the return of free African Americans to what was considered greater freedom in Africa. It helped to found the colony of Liberia in 1821–22 as a place for freedmen. Among its supporters were Charles Fenton Mercer, Henry Clay, John Randolph, and Richard Bland Lee.[1][2][3][4] Beginning in 1786, just after the American Revolution the British society, the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, launched its efforts to establish the Sierra Leone Province of Freedom for escaped colonial slaves. Paul Cuffee, a wealthy mixed-race New England shipowner and activist, was an early advocate of settling freed blacks in Africa. He gained support from black leaders and members of the US Congress for an emigration plan.
Background[edit] Paul Cuffee[edit] Origins[edit] Motives[edit] Liberia: History, Geography, Government, and Culture. Lying on the Atlantic in the southern part of West Africa, Liberia is bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire. It is comparable in size to Tennessee. Most of the country is a plateau covered by dense tropical forests, which thrive under an annual rainfall of about 160 in. a year. Republic. Africa's first republic, Liberia was founded in 1822 as a result of the efforts of the American Colonization Society to settle freed American slaves in West Africa. The English-speaking Americo-Liberians, descendants of former American slaves, make up only 5% of the population, but have historically dominated the intellectual and ruling class. The government of Africa's first republic was modeled after that of the United States, and Joseph Jenkins Roberts of Virginia was elected the first president.