Portal:Liberia

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Liberia (/laɪˈbɪəriə/ ^ⓘ), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It has a population of around 5.5 million and covers an area of 43,000 square miles (111,369 km²). The official language is English. Over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, reflecting the country's ethnic and cultural diversity. The capital and largest city is Monrovia.

Liberia began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which believed that black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. Between 1822 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born African Americans, along with 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to Liberia. Gradually developing an Americo-Liberian identity, the settlers carried their culture and tradition with them while colonizing the indigenous population. Led by the Americo-Liberians, Liberia declared independence on July 26, 1847, which the U.S. did not recognize until February 5, 1862.

Liberia was the first African republic to proclaim its independence and is Africa's first and oldest modern republic. Along with Ethiopia, it was one of the two African countries to maintain its sovereignty and independence during the European colonial "Scramble for Africa". During World War II, Liberia supported the U.S. war effort against Nazi Germany and in turn received considerable American investment in infrastructure, which aided the country's wealth and development. President William Tubman encouraged economic and political changes that heightened the country's prosperity and international profile; Liberia was a founding member of the League of Nations, United Nations, and the Organisation of African Unity.

The Americo-Liberian settlers did not relate well to the indigenous peoples they encountered. Colonial settlements were raided by the Kru and Grebo from their inland chiefdoms. Americo-Liberians formed into a small elite that held disproportionate political power, while indigenous Africans were excluded from birthright citizenship in their own land until 1904.

In 1980, political tensions from the rule of William R. Tolbert resulted in a military coup, marking the end of Americo-Liberian rule and the seizure of power of Liberia's first indigenous leader, Samuel Doe. Establishing a dictatorial regime, Doe was assassinated in 1990 in the context of the First Liberian Civil War which ran from 1989 until 1997 with the election of rebel leader Charles Taylor as president. In 1998, the Second Liberian Civil War erupted against his own dictatorship, and Taylor was overthrown by the end of the war in 2003. The two wars resulted in the deaths of 250,000 people (about 8% of the population) and the displacement of many more, with Liberia's economy shrinking by 90%. A peace agreement in 2003 led to democratic elections in 2005. The country has remained relatively stable since then. (Full article...)

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Taylor as president

Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor (born 28 January 1948) is a Liberian former politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003 as a result of the Second Liberian Civil War and growing international pressure.

Born in Arthington, Montserrado County, Liberia, Taylor earned a degree at Bentley College in the United States before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe. After being removed for embezzlement and imprisoned by President Doe, Taylor escaped prison in 1989. He eventually arrived in Libya, where he was trained as a guerrilla fighter. He returned to Liberia in 1989 as the head of a Libyan-backed rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, to overthrow the Doe government, initiating the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996). Following Doe's execution, Taylor gained control of a large portion of the country and became one of the most prominent warlords in Africa. His forces, along with those of other rival warlords such as ULIMO were notorious for committing widespread human rights abuses and atrocities during the civil war. Following a peace deal that ended the war, Taylor was elected president in the 1997 general election as a member of the National Patriotic Party (NPP).

During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his support for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). Domestically, Taylor attempted to consolidate power through dictatorial means such as by purging the military and committing violence against his political rivals, including an assassination attempt of former ULIMO commander Roosevelt Johnson, leading to violent clashes in Monrovia in 1998. As a result, opposition to his government grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War in 1999. By 2003, Taylor had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. That year, he resigned, as a result of growing international pressure; he went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006, the newly elected President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, formally requested his extradition. He was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, awaiting trial by the Special Court. He was found guilty in April 2012 of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape. (Full article...)

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...that Lake Piso, a brackish water lake in western Liberia, is the largest in the country?

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... that the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission listed former Council of State vice chair Isaac Musa among dead supposed perpetrators of human rights abuses and war crimes?
... that through their participation in the Liberian National Transitional Government, warlords could gain access to state resources whilst continuing hostilities between each other?
... that Liberian paramount chief Tamba Taylor worked as a tailor and claimed to have sewn clothes for Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah?
... that Liberian minister of information Joe Mulbah was suspended by President Charles Taylor after a fist fight with the deputy minister of information?
... that neighboring British Sierra Leone and Liberia disputed their border, and the British Empire seized the disputed territory in 1885?
... that Liberian factions voted Bismarck Kuyon to be the chair of the transitional executive branch of the government, but his nomination was revoked before he was installed?

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Credit: 26th MEU(SOC) PAO, United States Marines

The Martin, a World Food Programme ship unloads pallets of high energy biscuits at the Freeport of Monrovia on August 15, 2003 during the Second Liberian Civil War.

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The following are images from various Liberia-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Liberia map of Köppen climate classification. (from Liberia)
Image 2Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. (from History of Liberia)
Image 3Map of Liberia c.1856 (from History of Liberia)
Image 4Charles D. B. King, 17th President of Liberia (1920–1930), with his entourage on the steps of the Peace Palace, The Hague (the Netherlands), 1927. (from Liberia)
Image 5Development of life expectancy (from Liberia)
Image 6Gyude Bryant (from History of Liberia)
Image 7The Daily Talk is a street blackboard announcing news on Monrovia's Tubman Boulevard. (from Culture of Liberia)
Image 8The streets of downtown Monrovia, March 2009 (from Liberia)
Image 9A Liberian tropical forest (from Liberia)
Image 10Pygmy hippos are among the species illegally hunted for food in Liberia. The World Conservation Union estimates that there are fewer than 3,000 pygmy hippos remaining in the wild. (from Liberia)
Image 11President Tolbert and U.S. President Jimmy Carter (in car, left) in Monrovia, 1978 (from History of Liberia)
Image 12Paul Cuffee in 1812. (from History of Liberia)
Image 13A map of Liberia (from Liberia)
Image 14Bassa culture. Helmet Mask for Sande Society (Ndoli Jowei), Liberia. 20th century. Brooklyn Museum. (from Liberia)
Image 15A beachside barbecue at Sinkor, Monrovia, Liberia (from Liberia)
Image 16Liberia on a 1839 map of West Africa (from History of Liberia)
Image 17Map of Liberia circa 1830 (from History of Liberia)
Image 18Students studying by candlelight in Bong County (from Liberia)
Image 19A proportional representation of Liberian exports. The shipping related categories reflect Liberia's status as an international flag of convenience—there are 3,500 vessels registered under Liberia's flag accounting for 11% of ships worldwide. (from Liberia)
Image 20Liberian ceremonial spoon (from Culture of Liberia)
Image 21A technical in Monrovia during the Second Liberian Civil War. (from Liberia)
Image 22Charles D. B. King, 17th President of Liberia (1920–1930), with his entourage on the steps of the Peace Palace, The Hague (the Netherlands), 1927. (from History of Liberia)
Image 23Loggers and logging truck, early 1960s (from Liberia)
Image 24African Americans depart for Liberia, 1896. The ACS sent its last emigrants to Liberia in 1904. (from Liberia)
Image 25Liberia's population pyramid, 2005. 43.5% of Liberians were below the age of 15 in 2010. (from Liberia)
Image 26American troops in Liberia during World War II. (from History of Liberia)
Image 27A one Liberian Dollar banknote from 1862 (from History of Liberia)
Image 28Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (from Liberia)
Image 29INPFL militiamen in 1990 after taking control of much of Monrovia. (from History of Liberia)
Image 30Liberia, trends in the Human Development Index 1970–2010. (from Liberia)
Image 31Edward Wilmot Blyden (from Culture of Liberia)
Image 32American troops secure Freeport of Monrovia, 2003 (from History of Liberia)
Image 33A view of a lake in Bomi County (from Liberia)
Image 34Share of forest area in total land area, top countries (2021). Liberia has the ninth highest percentage of forest cover in the world. (from Liberia)
Image 35Residence of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia, between 1848 and 1852. (from Liberia)
Image 36The Buduburam refugee camp west of Accra, Ghana, home in 2005 to more than 40,000 refugees from Liberia (from History of Liberia)
Image 37Real GDP per capita development, since 1950 (from Liberia)
Image 38Map of Liberia Colony in the 1830s, created by the ACS, and also showing Mississippi Colony and other state-sponsored colonies. (from Liberia)
Image 39President Sirleaf with (left to right) British Prime Minister David Cameron, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and United States Secretary of State John Kerry in September 2015 (from Liberia)
Image 40A European map of West Africa and the Grain Coast, 1736. It has the archaic mapping designation of Negroland. (from Liberia)
Image 41Liberia's population from 1961 to 2013, in millions. Liberia's population tripled in 40 years. (from Liberia)
Image 42The Bassa Vah alphabet. (from Culture of Liberia)