ABOUT LIBERIA
Gerard Amavi
By Encyclopaedia Africana Project
Lawrence Boakye
Contributors
Editing Info & History
Location map in Africa
Human Development Index (HDI)
0.480
Male
0.509
Female
0.453
HDI rank (out of 189 countries)
175
Life expectancy at birth (years)
64.1
Income index
0.383
Education index
0.426
Gender development index
0.890
Gender inequality index
0.650
Literacy rate, adults (% ages 15 and older)
48.3
Urban population (%)
51.6
Population in multidimensional poverty, headcount (%)
52.3
Employment to population ratio (% ages 15 and older)
74.2
Source: UNDP
Introduction
Liberia is a coastal country located in the west African sub-region. It is bordered by Cote d’Ivoire to the east, Sierra Leone to the west, Guinea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It is the only country in Africa that was never colonised by foreigners and hence regarded as the oldest African Republican country.
Although rich in natural resources such as timber, wildlife, and minerals including gold and diamonds, a long period of devastating conflicts and civil war in the 1990s have crippled the country’s socioeconomic development.
Brief History
Liberia was founded in the early 1800s through a domestic political idea in the United States of America to establish an African-American colony in Africa when a group of white Americans founded the American Colonisation Society to deal with the challenge of the growing number of free blacks in the United States by relocating them in Africa. After several attempts by the Society to search for a suitable location for the colony in West Africa, a place of permanent settlement was finally found in 1824.1 The American settlers obtained more tribal land and control over native areas following their arrival through various flawed treaties, causing hostilities between the settlers and natives. The settlers also made some natives to work on their farms and in their homes and enforced their American way of life in the areas under their control to further cause constant hostilities between the two groups.2
First President of Liberia
Photo Credit: Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State
With the colonists acquiring more land and establishing various settlements, the Society and state auxiliaries decided to combine the settlements to form the Commonwealth of Liberia.2 The Government of the United States of America provided some financial and diplomatic support for the Commonwealth until 1847 when Liberia declared independence from the American Colonisation Society to establish a sovereign state following continuous encroachment of the territory by French and British traders.1
In 2005, Liberia held its first post-conflict elections and elected the first-ever female head of state in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf into office as president to mark the onset of the road to recovery and economic development following a long period of civil war.
1. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/liberia
2. https://liberiainfo.co/prd/historical-periods/commonwealth-of-liberia/
Quick Facts and Statistics Official Name Republic of Liberia Nationality Liberian National anthem President (Head of State and Government) Form of governance Presidential Constitutional Republic Capital Monrovia Official language English Predominant religion Christianity Climate Tropical Land area (in sq. km) 96,320 (2020 World Bank data) |
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Population 5,057,677 (2020 World Bank data) Currency Liberian Dollars (LRD) Dialling Code +231 Time Zone GMT Colonial Masters None Date of Independence 26 July 1847 |
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